THEIR  NAT  JRE  &  ORIGIN, 

AND 

How  TO  PROTECT  OUR  DWELLINGS. 

BY 

ADOLFO  DE  VARONA,  A.M.,  M,D. 


Not  until  the  properties  of  air  and  water  and  food  art 
taught  in  schools  in  preference  to  the  abstract  rui^  of 
grammar,  and  the  distorted  Jtycts  of  history,  will  wen 
come  to  understand  the  magnitude  of  the  crime  that  is 
committed  by  those  who  poison  the  air  of  their  cities,  the 
water  of  their  rivers,  the  supplies  of  their  market  places. 


SECOND  EDITION.     REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 


NEW  YORK: 

D.  VAN  NOSTRAND,  PUBLISHER, 
23  MURRAY  AND  2T  WARREN  STREET. 

1882. 


TI 


THE  VAN  NOSTR4ND  SCIENCE  SERIES. 

16mo.  Boards.     Price"&V\fents  Each. 
Amply  illustrated  when  tfie  Subject  Demands. 


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Thurston. 

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By  A.  de  Varona.  fja  c-u.,  revised  and  enlarged. 

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WORK. By  Benjamin  Baker,  M.  Inst.  C.E. 

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Operation  of  Incandescent  Stations.  By  C.  J. 
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cent Lamps,  by  John  W.  Howell. 

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COMMENTS.  By  S.  W.  Robinse"  C.E. 


THEIR  NATURE  &  ORIGIN, 

AND 

How  TO  PROTECT  OUR  DWELLINGS. 

BT 

ADOLFO  DE  VARONA,  A.M.,  MJD. 


Not  until  the  properties  of  air  and  water  and  food  are 
taught  in  schools  in  preference  to  the  abstract  [rules  of 
grammar,  and  the  distorted  facts  of  history,  will  men 
come  to  understand  the  magnitude  of  [the]  crime  that  is 
committed  by  those  who  poison  the  air  of  their  cities,. the 
water  of  their  rivers,  the  supplies  of  their  market  places. 


SECOND  EDITION.      REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 


NEW   YORK: 

D.  VAN  NOSTRAND,  PUBLISHER 
23  MURRAY  AND  27  WARREN  STREET. 

1882. 


CTERAL 


COPYBIGHT— D.  VAN   NOSTBAND— 1882. 


PREFACE. 


THIS  little  volume  is  an  unpretentious 
effort  to  present,  in  the  briefest  possible 
manner,  the  gleanings  of  several  years' 
careful  study  of  the  Sewer  Gas  question. 
It  has  been  condensed  from  the  lectures 
on  Sanitary  Science  delivered  by  the 
author  before  various  Medical  Societies 
and  Colleges.  While  extended  considera- 
tion has  been  given  to  those  matters 
that  specially  call  for  it,  brevity  has  been 
aimed  at,  that  whatever  other  faults  may 
be  found  with  the  discourse,  no  one  shall 
deny  it  the  rare  merit  of  being  short. 

A.  VAEONA. 
Brooklyn,  1879. 


705 


PART  I. 

CONTENTS  OF  PART  I. 


NECESSITY  OF  SANITARY  MEASURES.? 

COMPOSITION  OF  SEWAGE] 

SEWER  GASES. 

RELATION  OF  SEWER  GASES  TO  DISEASE' 

SEWERS. 

SIZE  OF  SEWERS. 

INCLINATION  OF  SEWERS. 

SHAPE  OF  SEWERS. 

MATERIAL  OF  SEWERS. 

CONSTRUCTION  OF  SEWERS 

VENTILATION  OF  SEWERS. 

HOUSE  DRAINS. 


SEWER    GASES 

AND 

How  TO  PROTECT  OUR  DWELLINGS. 


I. 


NECESSITY  OF  SANITARY  MEASURES. 

MAN,  considered  individually,  differs 
widely  from  man  viewed  as  one  of  the 
aggregates  that  form  the  complex  social 
organism. 

Individually,  his  wants  are  few,  his 
relations  to  his  surroundings  simple. 
Aggregately,  his  wants  are  multiplied  by 
the  wants  of  those  around  him.  His  re- 
lations increase  in  complexity  as  the  or- 
ganization of  which  he  is  a  member 
increases  in  numbers. 

Leading  an  individual  existence,  re- 
moved from  the  habitations  of  other 
men,  he  readily  finds  the  three  things 


8 


essential  to  his  maintenance — pure  air, 
pure  water,  unadulterated  food.  He 
scatters  the  waste  products  of  his  in- 
trinsic and  extrinsic  economy  upon  the 
soil  around  him,  where  vegetation  at 
once  preys  upon  them,  nourishes  itself 
with  them,  elaborates  them,  returns 
them  to  him  reconverted  into  pure  air, 
pure  water,  and  wholesome  food.  Thus 
the  chain  of  life  goes  on  in  uninterrupted 
cycles.  It  is  the  law. 

But  as  men  congregate,  vegetation  is 
banished  from  their  immediate  surround- 
ings, the  simple  commerce  between 
animal  and  vegetable  life  is  impeded,  the 
return  to  the  earth  of  what  belongs  to 
the  earth  is  retarded,  the  cycle  is  inter- 
rupted. As  no  law  of  nature  can  be 
broken  with  impunity,  this  interruption 
is  fatal  to  the  transgressors.  The  pres- 
ence of  the  waste  products  of  the  animal 
economy  is  fatal  to  animal  life.  Their 
prompt  removal  from  human  contact  be- 
comes, therefore,  a  question  of  vital  im- 
portance. 

In  a  congregation  of  men,  be  it  a  set- 


9 


tlement,  market-place,  army  encampment, 
village  or  town,  it  is  not  enough  that  the 
individual  should  dispose  of  his  own  re- 
fuse in  a  manner  not  offensive  to  him- 
self, but  also  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  in- 
jure his  neighbor. 

This  duty  being  reciprocal,  it  is  obvious 
that  all  the  members  of  a  community 
are  equally  interested  in  its  compliance 
—the  neglect  of  one  may  bring  suffering 
to  all. 

As  there  are  always  in  large  assem- 
blies some  who,  from  various  motives, 
fail  to  comply  with  their  duties,  the  rest 
are  compelled  to  protect  themselves 
against  this  indifference,  and  sanitary  laws 
and  measures  spring  into  existence. 

Of  these,  some  of  the  most  important 
are  the  introduction  of  an  abundant 
supply  of  water  into  the  dwellings,  the 
construction  of  channels  for  the  removal 
of  the  same  after  it  has  been  used,  with- 
out which  the  free  enjoyment  of  water 
would  be  impossible,  and  the  utilization 
of  this  abundant  discharge  of  soiled  water 
to  carry  away  the  waste  products  of  the 
population. 


10 

To  this  mixture  of  water  and  refuse 
the  term  "  sewage  "  is  applied,  and  the 
conduits  that  carry  it  off  are  called 
"  sewers.'' 

COMPOSITION  OF  SEWAGE. 

Sewage  consists,  in  addition  to  human 
excreta,  both  solid  and  liquid,  of  the 
water  from  kitchens,  containing  veget- 
able, animal  and  other  refuse,  the  water 
from  wash  tubs,  containing  soap,  and 
the  animal  matter  from  soiled  linen, 
the  drainage  from  stables,  cow-houses, 
pig  -  sty  s,  and  slaughter-houses,  contain- 
ing animal  and  vegetable  offal,  the  water 
from  factories,  the  trades  and  the  streets 
containing  animal  and  mineral  matter  and 
refuse  of  all  sorts. 

The  chemical  composition  of  sewage 
in  towns  using  the  modern  closet  is  on 
an  average  to 

1  gallon  of  water. 

20  grains  of  organic  matter. 

6  grains  of  nitrogen. 

1J  grains  of  phosphoric  acid. 

2  grains  of  potash. 


11 

In  [towns  where  closets  are  not  used 
the  difference  in  organic  matter  is  not  as 
great  as  might  at  first  be  supposed,  being 
only  from  one  to  ten  parts  less  in  one 
hundred  thousand.  There  is  also  a  dif- 
ference in  the  composition  of  sewage  at 
different  hours,  day  sewage  containing 
twice  as  much  organic  matter  as  night 
sewage.2 

Under  the  microscope,  sewage  is  found 
to  contain  a  quantity  of  dead  and  decay- 
ing animal  matter,  and,  in  addition,  mul- 
titudes of  living  bacteria,  amoebiform 
bodies,  ciliated  infusoria,  fungi,  a  few 
diatomes,  and  occasionally  rotifers  and 
other  higher  organisms. 

SEWAGE    GASES. 

The  tendency  of  such  a  complex  liquid 
as  sewage  is  naturally  to  undergo  >de- 
composition,  and,  if  the  conditions  are 
favorable,  to  resolve  itself  into  its 
simplest  elements. 

If  we  bear  in  mind  that  of  the  four 
chief  elements  which  in  various  combina- 
tions make  up  organic  matter,  three  are 
gases — that  is,  substances  of  great  molec. 


12 

ular  activity ;  that  these,  in  combina- 
tion with  carbon,  are  held  in  solution  or 
suspension  by  water,  the  molecular 
mobility  of  which  is  such  that  its  fluid 
and  solid  masses  are  constantly  passing 
into  the  form  of  vapor,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that,  before  these  substances 
reach  their  ultimate  elementary  condi- 
tion, they  should  pass  through  interme- 
diate rearrangement  of  molecules,  and 
different  gases  should  be  evolved. 

These  gases  are  well  known ;  they 
have  been  isolated  ;  we  are  familiar  with 
their  properties,  such  are 

Nitrogen.     N. 

Carburated   hydrogen,    or  coal  gas, 
C4  H3  H. 

Light     carburated      hydrogen,     or 
marsh  gas,  C  H2. 

Sulphurated  hydrogen,  S  H2. 

Ammonia,  N  H3. 

Sulphide  of  ammonium,  S  H4  N. 

Carbonic  acid,  C  O2. 

Carbonic  oxide,  C  O. 

Carbo  ammonaical  vapors. 
It   must  not   be    supposed,  however, 


13 

that  decomposing  sewage  constantly 
emits  any  one  of  these  gasses  in  an  iso- 
lated state,  nor  all  of  them  in  combina- 
tion at  any  one  time.  The  emanations 
assume  sometimes  one  form,  and  some- 
times another,  according  to  the  organic 
and  mineral  substances  in  the  sewage,  its 
velocity,  temperature,  amount  of  possible 
oxidation,  degree  of  sunlight,  and  other 
conditions. 

As  for  the  composition  of  any  definite 
sewer  gas,  the  only  available  analysis  is 
that  made  by  the  Sewer  Department  of 
Paris  of  the  gas  which  bubbles  up  to  the 
surface  from  the  sewer  beds  at  the  bottom 
of  the  river  Seine,  and  which  is  probably 
not  unlike  what  we  would  find  at  the 
foot  of  some  of  our  piers,  in  the  vicinity 
of  sewer  outlets. 

The  above  mentioned  analysis  gave  as 
a  result : 

Carburated  hydrogen 72.88 

Sulphurated  hydrogen 6.70 

Carbonic  acid 12 .30 

Carbonic  oxide 2.54 

Other  substances 5.68 

In  parts 100.00 


14 

Gases  are  liberated  in  stagnant  sew- 
age at  the  rate  of  one  and  a-half  cubic 
inches  per  gallon  per  hour,  the  quantity 
being  susceptible  of  great  increase  by 
high  temperature,  and  decrease  by  veloc- 
ity and  dilution. 

RELATION   OF    SEWER    GASES    TO    DISEASE. 

It  is  no  longer  a  matter  of  doubt  that 
the  emanations  from  sewage  either 
develop  or  favor  the  development  of 
many  forms  of  disease.  Proofs  incon- 
trovertible of  this  fact  may  be  adduced 
from  the  lowered  rates  of  mortality  in 
towns,  as  soon  as  means  are  provided 
for  the  prompt  removal  of  sewage  ;  and 
not  only  is  it  noticed  that  their  sanitary 
works  have  the  effect  of  staying  the 
ravages  of  disease,  but  also  that  in  many 
places  they  have  had  that  of  prolonging 
the  average  duration  of  life.3 

In  twelve  English  cities  selected  from 
the  records  collected  by  the  medical 
officers  of  the  Privy  Council  of  Great 
Britain,  the  decrease  in  mortality  follow- 


15 


ing  the  construction  of    sanitary  works 
was  as  follows  : 


In  Banbury,  mortality  decreased  12J£  per  100. 

"Cardiff,  "  "  32 

"  CroydoD,        "  "  22 

"  Dover,  "  "  7         " 

"  Ely,  "  "  14 

"  Leicester,       "  "  4%      " 

"  Macclesfield,  "  "  20 

"Merthyr,         "  "  18 

'"Newport,        "  «  32 

"Rugby,  "  (i  2%      " 

"  Warwick,       "  "  7%      " 

In  twenty  -five  cities  and  towns,  with 
an  aggregate  population  of  593,736,  the 
removal  of  ground  water  and  sewage 
had  the  effect  of  decreasing  the  death- 
rate  per  ten  thousand,  in  the  following 
manner  : 

From  all  causes  .........  from  247.65  to  2119.87 

"     Typhoid  fever,  "      13.34"      7.80 

"    Diarrhoea,  "        8.45  "      7.66 

"    Pulmon.  consump.,     "      33.44"    27.30 

Among  infants  under  one 
year,  all  causes,  "      55.65"    50,00 

The  average  number  of  years  for 
which  the  death-rates  were  calculated 


16 
were  —  before     improvements,  7£  ;    after 


In  some  of  these  towns  the  professional 
opinion  given  at  the  time  was,  "  that 
improper  construction  or  ventilation  of 
the  sewers  had  been  the  probable  cause 
of  increasing  the  death  rate,  by  exposing 
people  to  the  direct  effects  of  deleterious 
gases." 

To  these,  which  may  be  called  nega- 
tive proofs,  iunumerable  positive  ones 
may  be  added. 

Of  course  in  endeavoring  to  analyze 
the  death  statistics  of  sewage-polluted 
communities,  we  soon  find  that  with  re- 
gard to  many  of  the  separate  cases  in 
the  miscellaneous  mortality,  we  cannot 
argue  in  exact  scientific  terms,  partly 
because  very  large  quantities  are  regis- 
tered under  names  which  have  no  defi- 
nite nosological  meaning,  and  partly  be- 
cause some  kinds,  which  we  can  identify 
by  name,  are  such  as  we  do  not  etiologi- 
cally  understand  ;  so  that,  in  the  majority 
of  cases,  all  we  may  be  able  to  establish 
is  the  broad  fact,  that  within  an  area  of 


17 


sewer  gas  contamination,  the  deaths  in 
total  amount  are  greatly  more  numerous 
than  they  ought  to  be,  that  of  children, 
especially,  being  twice,  three  times,  and 
even  four  times  their  fair  rate  of  morta- 
lity, and  that  the  excess,  or  at  least  a  cer- 
tain share  of  the  excess,  can  only  be 
accounted  for  as  the  effect  of  sewer  gas 
poisoning. 

Though  when  that  broad  conclusion  is 
reached,  more  detailed  conclusions  may 
at  first  sight  scarcely  seena  needed  for 
practical  purposes,  yet  there  is  advant- 
age in  establishing  the  details  of  each 
case  as  exactly  as  the  circumstances  will 
allow,  not  only  because  it  concerns  the 
problem  of  preventive  medicine,  which 
we  are  discussing,  that  all  our  attribu- 
tions of  cause  and  effect  should  be  in 
the  spirit  of  exact  science,  but  also  be- 
cause arguments  from  general  death 
rates  may  fail  to  carry  conviction.  I 
therefore  proceed  to  speak  with  some 
detail  of  individual  diseases,  which  can 
be  traced  to  direct  sewage  emanations. 

The  town   of   Croydon,   already  men- 


18 

tioned,  has  become  famous  for  its  con- 
tributions to  the  literature  of  this  ques- 
tion. In  the  year  1873  twelve  hundred 
cases  of  typhoid  fever  occurred,  one 
hundred  and  four  of  which  proved  fatal. 
On  examination,  it  was  ascertained  that 
in  a  very  considerable  majority  of  the 
families  visited  by  the  fever,  drain  air, 
charged  with  infection  from  the  common 
sewers  of  the  town,  had  the  opportunity 
of  entering  the  houses.  Habitations  free 
from  this  nuisance  were  not  visited  by 
the  fever. 

At  Fort  Cumberland,  near  the  entrance 
of  Portsmouth,  and  close  to  flats  bare  at 
low  tide,  a  large  number  of  troops  were 
stationed.  The  sewage  of  the  town  had 
usually  been  discharged  at  ebb  tide,  but 
having  recently  been  pumped  into  the 
harbor  at  the  flood,  a  large  amount  was 
deposited  on  the  mud  banks  near  the 
fort.  This  caused  a  severe  epidemic  of 
enteric  fever  among  the  troops.  The 
sick  men  were  at  once  removed,  the 
sewage  dredged  off,  and  the  epidemic  at 
once  ceased. 


19 

In  the  city  of  Buenos  Ayres,  during  the 
cholera  epidemic  of  1867,  five  per  cent,  of 
the  entire  population  died.  In  the  yellow 
fever  epidemic  of  1871  more  than  10  per 
cent,  perished.  There  was  a  careful  in- 
vestigation of  the  causes  of  this  fearful 
mortality,  and  sewage  emanations  were 
shown  to  be  so  far  responsible  for  it  that 
a  distinguished  English  engineer  was  at 
once  engaged  to  carry  out  a  complete 
system  of  sewerage  and  water  supply. 
In  the  language  of  the  report  upon  the 
subject  by  Dr.  Eawson,  delegate  to  the 
International  Medical  Congress  at  Phila- 
delphia, 1876,  "the  works  of  drainage 
and  sewerage,  so  actively  prosecuted  at 
the  present  time,  are  destined  to  radi- 
cally remove  this  infection." 

During  1875  Savannah  had  a  very 
Similar  experience,  largely  from  similar 
causes ;  and  an  epidemic  of  scarlatina 
in  Baltimore  was  traced  by  Dr.  Morris  to 
the  effluvia  of  drains  impregnated  with 
the  refuse  of  slaughter-houses. 

New  York  has  had  several  epidemics 
traceable  to  defective  sewerage,  no- 


20 

ticeably   one  of   cerebro   spinal   menin- 
gitis. 

An  investigation  into  the  causes  and 
conditions  of  yellow  fever  in  the  United 
States,  with  the  help  of  the  library  of  the 
Surgeon-General  at  Washington,  and  a 
personal  experience  of  over  two  thousand 
cases,  concludes  "that  nothing  is  so  im- 
portant in  the  prevention  of  yellow  fever 
as  proper  water  supply  and  sewerage." 
The  writer  further  says  that  the  disease 
cannot  be  taken  in  a  pure  air  from  per- 
sons, clothing,  trunks,  or  black  vomit ; 
but  in  an  impure  air,  other  things  being 
suitable,  it  can  be  taken  from  either.4 

In  the  investigation  into  the  causes  of 
diphtheria,  in  Lynn,  Mass.,  among  many 
interesting  cases  the  following  occurs : 
"  Case  of  family  No.  44 — The  house  was 
well  ordered,  and  the  first  impression 
was  that  everything  was  as  it  should  be. 
But  a  careful  search  showed  an  over- 
flowing cesspool  under  a  bedroom  win- 
dow. Three  persons  of  the  five  consti- 
tuting the  family  had  diphtheria  in  *a 
severe  form.  Two  of  these  slept  in  the 


21 

bedroom  above  mentioned,  and  the  other 
in  one  adjoining." 

From  the  same  report  we  gather  that, 
in  the  wards  where  the  largest  number 
of  cases  occurred,  "  only  a  small  portion 
of  the  territory  is  drained." 

From  a  report  of  a  similar  investiga- 
tion in  Brooklyn,  we  quote  the  follow- 
ing: 

"  Among  the  many  cases  investigated 
wherein  diphtheria  was  clearly  traceable 
to  defective  house  drainage,  the  follow- 
ing notable  one  may  be  mentioned :  In 
February  of  this  year  (1877),  a  number 
of  cases  of  diphtheria  were  reported  from 
No.  354  Smith  street.  In  one  week  five 
of  these  proved  fatal.  The  house  was 
one  of  a  row  of  five  four  story  tenements, 
accommodating  about  five  families  each. 
It  was  occupied  as  follows  :  First  floor, 
on  which  was  store,  and  the  kitchen  in  the 
cellar,  by  a  woman  and  one  child ;  the 
second  floor  by  three  adults  and  two 
children ;  the  third  floor  by  two  adults  and 
five  children,  and  the  fourth  floor  by  two 
families,  consisting  of  three  adults  and  two 


22 


children — a  total  of  eighteen  inmates  in 
all.  Of  this  number,  seven,  all  children, 
had  been  sick  with  diphtheria,  and  five 
from  the  family  living  on  the  third  floor 
had  died." 

The  health  officer,  who  made  a  de- 
tailed examination  of  the  premises,  traces 
the  origin  of  this  disease  directly  to  the 
imperfect  sewerage,  which  in  his  report 
he  describes. 

Add  to  this  that  it  is  no  uncommon 
experience  to  have  in  localities  infected 
by  sewage  emanations,  persons  with 
accidental  wounds,  or  the  wounds  of  sur- 
gical operations,  affected  with  erysi- 
pelas, pyaemia  and  septicaemia,  while  par- 
turient females  are  not  unfrequently  at- 
tacked with  puerperal  fever. 

It  is  not  my  aim  to  attempt  to  give 
any  exact  statement  of  the  total  influence 
which  sewer  emanations  exert  upon 
health,  for  as  a  general  thing  it  is  only 
as  far  as  diseases  kill  that  their  effect  can 
be  represented  in  numbers.  Of  the  in- 
calculable amount  of  physical  suffering, 
the  disablement  which  they  occasion,  the 


23 

sorrows,  the  anxieties,  the  darkening  of 
life,  the  strained  means  of  subsistence, 
the  destitution  or  pauperism  which  often 
attend  or  follow  such  suffering,  death 
statistics  and  health  board  reports,  to 
which  alone  I  can  refer,  testify  only  by 
suggestion.  However,  what  we  have 
said  is  sufficient  to  show  that  of  the  death 
rates  which  we  register  each  year,  fully 
one-half  are  of  the  zymotic  order,  and  of 
these  the  great  majority  are  due  to  the 
effects  of  bad  drainage. 

The  question  now  arises.  Does  sewage 
gas  really  produce  these  diseases,  or  does 
it  only  establish  a  condition  that  favors 
their  development  ?  In  other  words,  Is 
sewage  gas  the  infectious  element,  or  is 
it  sewage  gas  plus  something  else? 

We  have  seen  the  list  of  gases  genera- 
ted in  the  ordinary  process  of  sewage  de- 
composition; let  us  subject  them  to  a 
species  of  mental  proving.  Nitrogen  is 
inert  and  harmless  to  the  human  sys- 
tem. 

Carburated  hydrogen  or  coal  gas  has 
an  ethereal,  disagreeable  smell,  but  it 


can  be  breathed  in  great  quantities  with 
impunity. 

Light  carburated  hydrogen  or  marsh 
gas  is  odorless  ;  it  explodes  if  a  flame  is 
applied  to  it  as  it  is  liberated  into  atmos- 
pheric air  ;  but  it  is  also  harmless  as  ob- 
tained in  the  laboratory,  though  it  is 
accused,  with  what  foundation  no  one 
knows,  of  producing  malaria  when  gene- 
rated in  marshes. 

Sulphurated  hydrogen  has  a  bad  odor, 
produces  vertigo  and  vomiting,  but  is 
otherwise  harmless. 

Ammonia  has  a  pungent  odor;  in  a 
concentrated  form  it  may  burn  exposed 
surfaces,  such  as  the  conjunctiva,  the 
larynx,  but  it  is  also  harmless. 

Sulphide  of  ammonium  has  a  bad  smell, 
may  produce  immediate  asphyxia  if  in- 
haled in  large  volume,  but,  unless  it  kill, 
it  produces  nothing  but  nausea  and 
headache. 

Carbonic  acid  has  a  pungent,  musty 
odor,  it  kills  if  breathed  in  sufficient 
quantity  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time, 
but,  like  sulphide  of  ammonium,  unless 


25 

it  kill,  leaves  no  other  after  effect  than 
vertigo  and  slight  debility.  Such  is  the 
experience  of  a  thousand  would-be 
suicides. 

Carbonic  oxide  is  odorless,  and  still 
more  poisonous,  but  precisely  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  acid — it  either  kills 
or  does  no  harm. 

No  typhoid,  dysentery,  diphtheria, 
scarlatina,  erysipelas,  or  anything  similar 
to  these  conditions  has  ever  been  pro- 
duced by  the  inhalation  of  these  gases 
when  generated  in  the  laboratory,  in  the 

process  of  the  arts,  in  mining  operations, 
etc.  s 

What,  then,  are  the  causes  of  so  many 
diseases  from  the  same  gases,  when 
generated  in  the  sewers  ?  They  seldom 
or  never  enter  our  houses  in  sufficiei*t 
quantity  to  materially  diminish  the  re- 
lative amount  of  atmospheric  oxygen,  or 
to  poison  with  carbonic  acid  or  sulphide 
of  ammonium,  yet  their  results  are  posi- 
tive. They  act  as  infections,  and  their 
physiological  effects  are  unlike  those 
which  follow  the  breathing  of  any  known 
gases. 


1.6 

What  is  the  natural  deduction  ?  If  the 
physiological  effects  which  follow  the 
breathing  of  sewage  gases  are  actually 
produced  by  what  then  enters  the  organ- 
ism, it  must  be  something  besides  oxygen, 
hydrogen,  nitrogen,  carbon  and  sulphur, 
in  their  various  combinations. 

If  we  note  the  manner  in  which  sewage 
emanations  act  upon  the  system  we  will 
find  it  bears  no  analogy  with  the  action 
of  any  chemically -known  substance, 
gaseous  or  otherwise. 

The  effects  of  any  chemically-known 
poison  are  always  the  same,  producing 
the  same  disturbances,  the  same  symp- 
toms, the  same  organic  lesions,  the  same 
mode  of  death.  The  results  are  always 
proportionate  to  the  amount  of  poison 
taken,  and  these  effects  cease  with  the 
victim. 

Sewage  emanations  act  in  a  very  differ- 
ent manner.  They  produce  diseases  of  a 
very  different  physiological  and  ana- 
tomical value.  Very  small  amounts  may 
develop  fatal  ailments,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  on  the  other,  large  amounts  may 


27 

produce  but  slight  derangements.  And, 
above  all,  the  poison  once  implanted  in 
a  human  being  is  capable  of  reproducing 
itself  ad  infinitum. 

It  is  also  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the 
virulence  of  sewage  poisoning  does  not 
depend  as  much  upon  any  known  condi- 
tion of  the  gas  as  upon  the  personal  con- 
dition of  the  victim,  such  as  age,  habits, 
state  of  health,  etc.  Many  facts  prove 
that  a  contaminated  atmosphere  may  be 
breathed  with  impunity  in  hours  of 
activity,  which  would  produce  serious 
ailments  if  breathed  when  the  system  is 
in  the  non-resistant  condition  of  sleep,  or 
even  a  posture  of  rest. 

Carpenter  relates  that  a  large  number 
of  children  in  one  of  the  English  work- 
houses were  twice  attacked  with  severe  > 
diarrhoea  from  exposure  to  emanations 
from  a  manure  factory,  while  the  work- 
men all  enjoyed  good  health. 

Murchison  states  that  in  a  school 
at  Clapham,  twenty  out  of  twenty-two 
boys  were  seized  with  violent  vomiting, 
purging,  prostration  and  fever,  within 


28 


three  hours  after  exposure  to  foul  emana- 
tions rising  from  a  sewer  which  they  had 
been  watching  the  workmen  clear.  None 
of  the  workmen  became  ill. 

In  the  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever  at 
Croydon,  already  cited,  the  report  says  ; 
"  We  found  female  servants  chiefly  at- 
tacked, and  their  children;  the  fathers 
were  seldom  sick  at  all." 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  in  malarial  dis- 
tricts that  the  inhabitants  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  walk  or  ride,  especially  after  eat- 
ing, through  regions  where  they  could 
not  sleep  or  even  drive  with  impunity ; 
and  the  fact  that  the  six  hundred  work- 
men in  the  thoroughly  ventilated  sewers 
of  Paris  are  generally  exempt  from 
zymotic  diseases,  as  has  been  shown  by 
severe  epidemics  in  the  city  at  various 
times,  though  cited  by  some  in  support 
of  the  theory  that  sewage  emanations 
produce  no  diseases  at  all,  is  only  an 
evidence  of  the  resisting  power  given  to 
the  organism  by  active  exercise. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  fact  that  in 
sewage,  besides  its  chemical  constituents, 


.29 


30 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  I. 
FIG.  1.— Sediment  of  sewage . 

1.  Fungi. 
22.  Vorticelae. 

3.  Probably  epitheleum. 
44.  Diatomes. 
555.  Confervae. 

6.  Mycelial  filaments. 

7.  Sporules. 

8.  Cellular  organism,  apparently  in  process  of  seg- 

mentation. 

9.  Amoebiform  body. 

10.  Kerona. 

11.  Vegetable  matter  in  process  of  "decay. 

12.  (?). 

13.  Actinophrys. 

14.  Rotifer. 

15.  Large  fungus,  apparently  in  process  of  growth. 

16.  Bacteria. 

FIG.  2. — Fungi  taken  from  the  intestines  of  a  rabbit. 

Upper  half  of  slide,  Fungi  as  they  were  found  in  the 
intestine  of  the  animal. 

Lower  half.  The  same  after  being  planted  on  a  slice 
of  apple. 


31 

the  microscope  reveals  the  presence  of 
living  bacteria,  amoebae,  infusoria,  fungi, 
etc.  [Plate  I.,  Fig.  1.] 

I  do  not  intend  to  say,  ex  cathedra,  it 
is  the  bacteria  that  produces  the  diseases  : 
I  only  ask  to  be  followed  patiently 
through  a  series  of  statements,  all  based 
upon  facts. 

In  the  first  place  we  have  the  unim- 
peachable fact  that  there  exist  in  sewage 
multitudes  of  living  germs. 

These  germs  are  analogous  to  others 
which  experiments  have  shown  to  be 
capable  of  nourishment,  growth  and  self- 
multiplication  ;  they  are  infinitely  small, 
light,  capable  of  being  lifted  by  the 
slightest  current  of  air,  in  f act  t}ieir  habi- 
tat is  watery  vapor.  In  pure,  dry  air 
they  immediately  perish.  In  pure  air 
charged  with  moisture  they  live  for  g, 
length  of  time,  yet  undetermined.  In 
humid  air  charged  with  putrefied  animal 
matter  they  live,  nourish  themselves,  and 
acquire  the  full  vigor  of  their  nature.  If 
now  they  are  deposited  in  a  proper  nidus 
(a  slice  of  apple  is  one  frequently  experi- 


32 

mented  with),  they  reproduce  themselves 
by  myriads.  [Plate  I.,  Fig.  2.] 

We  noted  that  sewage,  in  addition  to 
its  organic  matter  and  its  living  things, 
is  largely  composed  of  water  ;  that  water 
is  constantly  passing  into  the  state  of 
vapor.  We  have,  therefore,  that  as  it 
liberates  its  one  and  a  half  cubic  inches  of 
putrid  gases  per  gallon  per  hour,  it  gives 
to  the  air  around  it  its  living  germs,  the 
humidity  they  need  to  live  in,  and  the  food 
they  need  to  thrive  upon.  All  they  now 
want  is  the  nidus  to  hatch  and  multiply. 

Note  now  the  diseases  produ  ced  by  the 
so-called  sewer  gases.  They  are  always 
of  the  infectious  kind — one  case  may  be 
the  parent  of  a  thousand.  The  first  victim 
has  taken  the  disease  from  the  sewage 
vapor,  through  the  mouth,  nose  or  eyes,  or 
the  blood-vessels  may  absorb  it  from  the 
surface  of  any  open  wound  or  ulcer ;  but 
the  second  victim  need  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  sewage  vapor ;  he  may  never 
have  been  near  it ;  he  may  take  it  directly 
from  the  first  victim,  from  his  breath  or 
his  secretions. 


33 

\ 

Does  it  not  seem  as  though  something' 
had  passed  with  the  sewage  vapor  into 
the  first  victim,  which  had  there  multi- 
plied and  propagated  its  kind,  and  that  its 
offspring  had  passed  from  the  first  victim 
to  the  second,  where  the  same  phenomena 
had  been  developed,  and  the  same  capa- 
bility of  reproduction. 

I  neither  mean  to  commit  myself  here 
to  the  germ  theory  of  disease,  however 
much  it  may  surpass  in  degree  of  reason- 
ableness any  other  theory  that  has  been 
propounded ;  nor  do  I  intend  to  discuss 
the  nature  of  contagion,  nor  the  origin  of 
these  seemingly  disease-producing  living 
organisms,  nor  whether  it  is  Virchow's 
theory  of  spontaneous  evolution  of  disease 
germs  in  putrefying  animal  matter,  or 
Pettenkofer's  view  of  a  specific  germ  for 
each  disease,  or  Burden  Sanderson's  putre- 
factive ferment  theory,  or  Liebermeister's; 
or  Beale's  that  deserves  most  credit ;  nor 
shall  we  take  sides  with  either  of  the  two 
current  views  of  typhoid  fever,  the  one 
holding  that  one  case  must  be  the  direct 
offspring  of  a  preceding  one ;  the  other, 


34 

that  the  germ  originates  de  novo  in  putre- 
fying animal  matter. 6 

I  take  the  bacteria  as  they  are  found, 
come  whence  they  may,  and  give  the  facts 
concerning  them,  and  their  probable  rela- 
tion to  the  diseases  caused  by  the  so- 
called  sewage  gas,  such  as  they  are. 

SEWERS. 

Our  next  duty  is  to  consider  under 
what  conditions  sewer  gases  are  generated. 
We  have  said  that  the  prompt  revoval  of 
animal  refuse  from  human  contact  was  a 
matter  of  absolute  necessity,  and  that 
sewers  were  constructed  for  that  purpose. 
This  is  no  new  idea,  for  it  seems  that 
many  of  the  nations  of  antiquity  were  as 
well  informed  upon  the  subject  of  their 
construction  as  we  are.  The  ancient 
cities  of  Alexandria,  Carthage,  Hercula- 
neum,  Ninevah,  Jerusalem,  Home,  and 
many  others  of  historic  fame  possessed 
systems  of  sewerage  and  water  supply, 
the  completeness  of  which  far  exceeded 
the  most  elaborate  structures  of  modern 
times.  Their  aqueducts  still  bear  witness 


35 

to  their  engineering  skill,  and  the  vast  and 
gloomy  Cloaca,  constructed  twenty-five 
centuries  ago,  still  performs  for  the 
capital  of  United  Italy  the  same  service 
that  it  rendered  to  ancient  Rome.7 

Following  that  period  of  scientific  cul- 
ture came  the  long,  dark  interval  of 
centuries,  when  the  nations  seemed  to 
have  lapsed  into  ignorance  of,  or  rather 
indifference  to,  the  requirements  of  sani- 
tary laws,  and  the  cities  of  Western 
Europe  paid  no  heed  to  precautionary 
measures  for  the  preservation  of  the 
public  health,  until  the  "black  death" 
and  the  "  plague  "  gave  them  fearful  warn- 
ing of  the  consequences  of  neglect. 

Within  the  present  century  renewed 
attention  has  been  bestowed  upon  this 
vital  question,  and  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years  it  has  made  great  progress,, 
though  no  unanimity  of  opinion  has  as 
yet  been  arrived  at. 

A  perfect  system  of  sewers  is  one  which 
shall  carry  the  refuse  water,  without  in- 
terruption from  the  w^ash  basin  to  the 
river,  to  the  pumping  station,  to  the  ini- 


36 

gation  field,  or  to  whatever  terminus  the 
system  may  have,  at  the  rate  of  from  150 
to  270  feet  per  minute.  Whatever  system 
fails  to  do  this  ceases  to  be  a  sewer,  and 
converts  itself  into  more  or  less  of  a  re- 
» ceptacle  of  decomposition  and  foul  gases. 
That  sewers  may  fulfill  their  end.  their 
size  must  be  proportionate  to  the  area 
they  have  to  serve,  their  inclination  and 
shape  that  best  suited  to  favor  the  re- 
quired velocity.  The  material  of  which 
they  are  constructed  must  be  hard,  that 
they  may  have  the  required  resistance ; 
impervious,  that  there  may^be  no  soakage ; 
smooth,  on  their  internal  surface,  that 
there  may  be  the  least  friction.  They 
must  be  constructed  in  straight  lines, 
with  water-tight  joints,  gentle  curves 
when  necessary,  on  immovable  founda- 
tions, at  sufficient  depth  from  the  surface 
to  insure  proper  connections  with  the 
house  drains,  and  at  a  convenient  level  at 
the  outlet.  They  must  be  provided  with 
means  of  inspection,  they  must  be  well 
ventilated,  they  must  be  kept  clean  and 
in  good  repair. 


37 


SIZE  OF  SEWEKS. 

It  has  been  amply  demonstrated  from 
the  results  gained  by  experience  in  the 
management  and  workings  of  sewers,  that 
by  so  proportioning  the  size,  form  and  in- 
clination of  a  sewer  to  the  volume  of 
sewage  it  has  to  convey,  it  may  be  made 
self-cleansing.  This  has  done  away  with 
the  necessity  of  making  them  large  enough 
for  a  man  to  pass  through  them,  and  the 
conditions  which  govern  their  size  at  any 
one  point  are  simply  the  amount  of  sew- 
age proper  passing  at  that  point,  and  the 
amount  of  probable  rain  governing  that 
locality. 

When  the  sewers  in  our  principal 
cities  were  planned  and  commenced,  the 
appointed  engineers  had  to  depend  en- 
tirely upon  foreign  experiments  and 
foreign  experience  (mainly  English)  $or 
any  data  in  regard  to  the  amount  of  sew- 
age per  dwelling-house,  or  per  city  acre, 
to  be  provided  for,  as  weU  as  for  the 
amount  of  rain-water  reaching  a  sewer 
within  a  given  time ;  and  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  the  application  of  these 


38 

data,  though  successful  in  the  main,  have 
shown  themselves  to  be  defective  in  cer- 
tain particulars,  which  will  be  mentioned. 8 

Experiments  made  in  London  shows  the 
sewage  proper  there  to  be  about  five  cubic 
feet  per  head  per  diem  in  the  poorer 
districts,  and  eight  cubic  feet  per  head  per 
diem  in  the  wealthy  ones ;  and  that  is  the 
basis  upon  which  most  of  our  sewers  are 
constructed,  regardless  of  the  fact  that 
in  the  large  American  cities  the  amount  of 
water  consumed  per  capita  is  double  that 
consumed  in  London. 

In  Mr.  Fanning's  "  Treatise  on  Water 
Supply  Engineering,"  he  gives  the  average 
daily  supply  to  London  as  twenty-nine 
gallons  per  capita,  and  to  New  York, 
Brooklyn,  and  other  American  cities  as 
over  fifty-eight  gallons  per  capita  for  1874. 
It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  the  demand  with 
us  increases  from  day  to  day,  having  now 
reached  from  sixty  to  eighty  gallons  per 
head  daily,  and  I  should  not  be  surprised 
if  we  eventually  reached  the  figures  of  the 
ancient  cities,  which  provided  for  300  gal- 
lons per  head  per  diem. 


39 

It  follows  that,  if  the  sewage  of  a  city 
is  regulated  by  its  water  supply,  as  it  un- 
doubtedly is,  the  latter  being  four-fifths 
of  the  former,  the  sewers  in  our  cities 
should  provide  for  sixteen  cubic  feet  per 
capita  per  diem,  independent  of  rain- 
water. 

As  far  as  the  latter  is  concerned,  a  rain- 
storm of  one  inch  in  an  hour  has  been 
taken  as  the  maximum  to  be  provided  for, 
on  the  score  that  this  occurs  very  rarely, 
that  no  more  than  from  one  to  two-thirds 
of  the  rain  falling  during  a  heavy  storm 
finds  its  way  into  the  sewers  within  the 
hour,  and  that  it  would  be  more  expensive 
to  construct  a  system  of  works  for  the 
city,  calculated  to  carry  off  a  greater 
amount  than  one  inch,  than  to  incur  the 
damages  resulting  from  the  heavier 
storms,  which  would  only  occur  at  long 
intervals. 

INCLINATION  OF  SEWERS. 

The  object  to  be  accomplished  by  a 
given  inclination  is  to  secure  the  degree 
of  velocity  in  the  current  that  will  insure 


40 

against  the  deposit  of  the  solid  elements 
of  sewage.  This  is  a  problem  of  difficult 
solution,  if  we  consider  the  want  of  uni- 
formity in  the  quantity  of  sewage,  which 
varies  with  the  habits  of  the  population 
in  different  districts,  with  the  hour  of  the 
day  (one-half  being  discharged  during 
six  hours,  and  the  other  half  during 
eighteen),  and,  above  all,  with  the  drought 
or  rain-fall  of  the  moment. 

The  inclination  usually  adopted  being- 
intended  to  insure  a  velocity  of  two  and 
half  feet  per  second  is 

For  12-inch  pipe  a  grade  of  1  in  200. 
"    15    "  "  1  "  250. 

"    18    "  '«  1  "  300. 

SHAPES  OF  SEWERS. 

One  of  the  most  noticeable  defects  in 
the  American  system  of  sewers  is  the 
variety  of  shapes  adopted.  We  have 
sewers  with  nearly  flat  inverts,  like  the 
old  Roman  sewers;  we  have  them  elliptical, 
circular,  and  oval.  It  may  be  urged  that, 
as  the  object  to  be  fulfilled  varies  under 
different  circumstances,  it  may  become 


41 

necessary  to  adopt  more  than  one  sec- 
tional form  of  sewers,  but  I  fear  in  our 
case  the  substitution  of  one  for  the  other 
has  not  always?  been  based  upon  a  scien- 
tific consideration  of  the  object  in  view. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  for  sewers  having 
an  intermittent  flow— and  all  our  sewers 
come  under  this  head — the  egg-shaped 
sewer  is  found  to  be  the  best.  The  reason 
is  obvious ;  such  sectional  form,  insuring 
the  greatest  concentration  of  the  minimum 
flow,  gives  the  greatest  possible  velocity 
when  the  smallest  volume  is  running ' 
through  them.  At  the  same  time  it  offers 
the  least  possible  amount  of  friction  area 
or  wetted  perimeter  to  the  maximum 
flow. 

MATEKIAL  OF  SEWERS. 

The  materials  used  in  the  construction 
of  sewers  at  different  times  and  in  dif- 
ferent countries  are  bricks  of  all  kinds, 
tiles,  stone,  stoneware,  artificial  stone, 
earthenware,  asphalt,  cement,  concrete, 
iron  and  timber.  Experience  has 
demonstrated  that,  in  order  to  secure 


42 

the  permanency  and  durability  of  sewer 
work,  great  care  is  required  in  the  selec- 
tion of  a  proper  material,  and  that  the 
best  is  the  cheapest  in  the  end.  Of  the 
above,  bricks  laid  in  cement,  or  hydraulic 
lime  mortar,  stoneware  pipes  and  concrete 
used  separately  or  in  conjunction  with 
bricks  and  pipes,  and  iron  when  the  sewer 
has  to  be  taken  through  unsound  ground 
or  under  rivers,  are  the  only  ones  now  in 
use. 

With  us,  bricks  are  used  in  all  sizes 
above  eighteen  inches  :  below  this  size, 
a  few  miles  of  Grankirk  (Scotch)  pipes 
have  been  laid,  but  by  far  the  great  ma- 
jority are  of  the  Rosendale  cement,  and  it 
seems  to  give  general  satisfaction. 

These  pipes  are  very  extensively  manu- 
factured in  this  country.  They  are  made 
from  hydraulic  cement  and  sharp  sand  or 
gravel,  thoroughly  mixed  and  moulded 
under  pressure.  It  is  held  by  the  manu- 
facturers that  this  ware  does  not  mate- 
rially deteriorate  with  age. 

The  inverts  of  sewers  are  particularly 
liable  to  wear  from  the  erosion  of  the 


43 

water  and  from  the  grinding  action  of  the 
sand  and  solid  matter  transported  over 
them.  Yet,  according  to  the  last  reports, 
"there  is  no  sign  of  disintegration  or 
wearing  away  of  these  pipes." 

CONSTRUCTION  OF    SEWERS. 

As  sewers  must  always  be  constructed 
at  a  certain  definite  level  in  order  to  effect 
their  object,  it  becomes  necessary  to  make 
provision  for  securing  a  proper  founda- 
tion ;  for  whatever  may  be  the  unstability 
of  the  subsoil,  it  is  not  available  to  exca- 
vate at  greater  depth  to  find  a  more  stable 
foundation.  For  the  above  purpose,  one 
of  the  best  plans  is  to  dig  the  sewer 
trench  to  an  additional  depth,  and  fill  up 
to  the  level  of  the  sewer  with  concrete  or 
other  suitable  material. 

By  constructing  a  system  of  sewers  in 
straight  lines,  with  manholes  and  lamp- 
holes  -at  suitable  intervals,  the  whole  sys- 
tem is  brought  under  perfect  control,  and 
can  be  examined  at  any  time  without  hav- 
ing recourse  to  breaking  the  ground,  and 
any  ordinary  stoppage  can  be  remedied 


44 

with  the  aid  of  special  tools  applicable  for 
the  purpose.  The  corner  basins  for  re- 
ceiving the  storm  water  are  of  less  capac- 
ity with  us  than  is  usual  in  other  coun- 
tries, and  require  examination  and  empty- 
ing at  shorter  intervals.9  They  are  trap- 
ped, and  have  cesspits  to  retain  the  detri- 
tus from  the  streets,  which  must  be  lifted 
out  by  hand.  (Plate  II.,  Figs.  1  and  2.) 
All  bends  and  changes  of  direction  in  the 
line  of  mains  have  a  radius  of  at  least 
twenty  feet.  It  is  to  be  regretted,  how- 
ever, that  the  majority  of  the  curves  in 
our  systems  of  sewers  have  been  made  by 
cutting  and  adjusting  sections  of  straight 
pipe,  and  not  by  properly  manufactured 
curved  sections,  thus  making  the  bends  a 
succession  of  straight  lines  at  obtuse  an- 
gles, rather  than  a  gentle  and  uniform 
curve. 

VENTILATION. 

The  only  means  of  ventilating  our 
sewers  is  obtained  by  the  perforations  in 
the  gratings  covering  the  manholes,  and 
by  untrapped  connections  with  the  rain 


45 

water  pipes  or  leaders  from  the  roofs  of 
houses.  The  latter  contrivance  may  do 
more  harm  than  good,  as  they  cannot  act 
as  ventilators  when  ventilation  is  most 
needed,  that  is,  under  heavy  storms,  for 
they  are  then  full  of  water,  and  the  possi- 
ble evils  in  this  case  are  obvious  ;  but  the 
perforated  manhole  covers  offer  a  very 
effective  means  of  ventilation,  provided 
perforated  manhole  covers  be  placed 
throughout  the  system,  at  distances  suffi- 
ciently near  to  insure  their  object.  This 
subject,  however,  will  receive  further  con- 
sideration in  another  part  of  this  work. 
(Plate  III.,  Fig.  2.) 

That,  all  things  considered,  our  sewers 
have  been  in  the  majority  of  cases  well 
planned,  and  well  constructed,  there  can  be 
no  doubt ;  yet  that  they  fail  in  several  im- 
portant particulars,  and  that  in  some  in- 
stances they  act  as  generators  of  the  very 
nuisance  they  are  intended  to  remove,  is  un- 
fortunately but  too  true.  It  is  but  just  to 
remark,  however,  that  this  fault  is  due  not 
so  much  to  defective  construction  as  it  is  to 
neglect  in  their  maintenance  ;  but  when  we 


46 

consider  that  in  the  majority  of  American 
cities  it  is  the  duty  of  one  department  of 
the  city  government  to  construct  the  sew- 
ers, of  another  department  to  repair  and 
clean  them,  and  of  still  another  de- 
partment to  keep  the  streets  free 
from  refuse;  that  unless  these  three 
separate  departments  operate  with  per- 
fect unity,  the  object  they  are  intended 
to  fulfill  cannot  be  accomplished;  that 
given  the  constitution  of  our  political 
machinery,  it  is  not  likely  that  this  har- 
mony should  exist;  that  whenever  heads 
of  different  departments  meet  to  labor  in 
the  same  field,  punctiliousness  and  petty 
jealousies  bring  about  differences  that 
often  result  in  wdllful  neglect  of  duty,  is 
it  to  be  wondered  that  this  part  of  city 
service  is  so  imperfectly  attended  to? 

All  sewers,  from  the  very  nature  of  their 
elements,  are  defective.  All  materials  are 
more  or  less  pervious;  the  best  cements 
are  chemically  acted  upon  by  sewage,  the 
best  joints  have  rough  exposed  surfaces, 
upon  which  a  certain  amount  of  accumu- 
lation will  take  place,  which,  if  not  re- 


47 

PLATE  II. 


FIG.  1. 


FIG.  2. 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  IT. 

FIG.  1. — Corner  basin. 

FIG.  2.— Section  of  corner  basin. 

FIG.  3.— Pattern  of  an  English  trap  which  has  been 

reproduced  and  patented  in  this  country.    It  is  a 

good  trap. 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  III. 

FIG.  1. —Section  of  manhole,  showing  a  tray  placed 
under  the  perforated  grating  to  catch  the  street 
dust,  etc. 

FIG.  2. — Perforated  manhole  cover. 


49 

moved,  forms  the  foundation  for  a  gradual 
increase  that  will  eventually  obstruct  the 
whole  sewer.  Add  to  all  this  the  conse- 
quences of  neglect ;  that  streets  are  not 
properly  cleaned,  that  surface  sweepings 
are  washed  by  rain  storms  into  the  street 
basins,  and  thence,  not  being  removed  in 
time,  find  their  way  to  the  sewers ;  and 
we  have,  that  these  accumulations,  which 
are  left  to  putrefy  and  decay,  the  overflow 
which  we  have  pointed  out  saturating  the 
soil  with  the  contents  of  the  sewers ;  and 
the  settlement  caused  by  the  back-action 
of  the  tides  at  the  outlets,  are  conditions 
under  which  sewer  gases  are  inevitably 
generated. 

HOUSE    DKALNS. 

House  drains  are  a  small  system  of 
sewers  within  the  dwellings,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  conveying  to  the  street  sewers  all 
liquid  refuse,  waste  water  and  excreta. 

Why  these  should  be  called  drains, 
while  the  conduits  that  perform  the  same 
service  for  the  city  are  called  sewers,  I 
know  not.  The  inconsistencv  of  the 


50 

term,  however,  is  obvious,  for  in  strictly 
technical  terms  drains  are  the  channels 
that  remove  surface  and  subsoil  water 
only. 

In  common  parlance,  however,  the  pipe 
that  collects  the  refuse  water  from  a  house 
and  empties  it  into  the  street  sewer  is 
called  a  "drain-pipe,"  that  which  dis- 
charges the  excreta  from  the  closet  into 
the  drain-pipe  is  called  the  "soil-pipe," 
and  the  smaller  tubes  that  carry  the  waste 
water  from  w^ash  basins,  tubs,  etc.,  are 
called  "waste-pipes." 

The  indifference  with  which  house- 
owners  and  the  public  at  large  look  upon 
this  question  of  house  drainage  is  such, 
that  it  would  be  no  exaggeration  to 
say,  that  96  per  cent,  of  house  dwellers 
have  never  given  a  thought  to  the  manner 
in  which  their  wraste  waters  are  disposed 
of.  Marble-top  washstands,  silver-plated 
fittings,  decorated  china  basins,  planished 
copper  bath-tubs,  set  in  cabinet  work  of 
hard  wood,  stationary  trays  in  the  laun- 
dry, and  the  brightest  and  handsomest 
workmanship  wherever  the  plumbing  is 


51 


visible,  are  all  the  most  fastidious  seem  to 
demand.  The  invisible  portions,  are  as 
much  out  of  mind  as  they  are  out  of  sight 
in  the  so-called  modern  improvements. 

The  general  arrangement  is  the  follow- 
ing: A  six-inch  drain-pipe  with  an  inclina- 
tion of  about  1  in  100,  runs  from  the 
yard  through  the  cellar  and  under  the 
sidewalks  into  the  sewer.  A  four-inch  soil- 
pipe  leads  from  the  highest  closet  to  the 
drain-pipe,  and  into  these  two  all  the  waste 
pipes  empty ;  the  only  consideration  guid- 
ing the  selection  being  that  of  the  amount 
of  pipe  to  be  laid.  If  the  heel  of  the 
closet  trap  is  the  nearer,  the  waste  emp- 
ties there ;  if  not,  it  is  taken  to  the  drain. 

Immediately  below  each  closet,  basin, 
tub,  sink,  etc.,  a  contrivance  called  a  trap 
is  placed,  which,  keeping  full  of  water,  is 
supposed  to  prevent  the  gases  from  tfhe 
sewer  from  entering  the  house.  (Plates 
IV.  and  V.)  In  a  few  instances  some  means 
of  ventilation  is  provided,  either  by  con- 
necting the  drain  with  the  leader  from  the 
roof  or  continuing  the  soil-pipe  to  the 
open  air  above  the  roof. 


52 

Whatever  differances  there  may  be  in  the 
name,  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  these  house 
drains  are  nothing  more  than  small  pri- 
vate sewers,  lacking  in  their  construction 
the  engineering  skill  that  is  generally 
used  in  the  public  ones,  and  abounding 
therefore  in  the  conditions  that  generate 
poisonous  gases.  If  they  are  made  of 
porous  material,  of  unglazed  pipe,  of 
metals  rough  in  their  interior,  if  they  are 
badly  jointed,  if  they  are  unevenly  laid  so 
as  to  have  bends  and  hollows,  if  they 
have  sharp  curves,  or  run  in  horizontal 
lines,  if  they  have  falls  at  right  angles, 
deposits  take  place,  which  decompose  and 
act  precisely  in  the  same  manner  as  stag- 
nant sewage. 

HOW    GASES    ENTER    THE    DWELLING. 

We  have  seen  that  the  obstacles  op- 
posed to  the  passage  of  gases  are  first, 
the  solid  material  of  which  the  pipe  is 
made;  second,  the  w^ater  seal  of  the  trap. 

Pipes  are  of  different  materials.  The 
soil  and  drain-pipes  are  generally  of  iron, 
while  the  waste-pipes  are  of  lead.  These 


54 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  IV. 

1.  Common  S  trap,  so  called  on  account  of  its  shape ; 

it  is  absolutely  useless  as  a  trap,  being  easily 
siphoned  from  the  slightest  cause. 

2.  S  trap  with  opening  at  the  top  ;  also  objectionable, 

though  better  than  the  preceding  one,  being  easy 
of  access. 

3.  Ordinary  P  trap.   Much  used  in  closets,  for  which  it 

is  well  adapted. 

4.  Flat  siphon  trap  or  running  trap,  so  called  because 

it  can  be  made  by  bending  any  pipe,  as  it  runs 
horizontally,  into  the  required  shape.  It  is  very 
objectionable,  having  generally  but  little  seal. 

5.  The  same,  opened  at  the  top.    In  this  shape  it  is 

much  better  than  the  preceding  one.  The  open- 
ing may  be  used  for  inspection,  ventilation,  etc. 

6.  Bell  trap,  so  called  because  it  consists  of  a  bell- 

shaped  diaphragm  attached  to  the  grating,  dipping 
into  the  chamber  of  the  trap  and  covering  the  dis- 
charge pipe.  Objectionable,  because  the  seal  is 
small  and  because  the  bell  is  easily  removed  by 
lifting  the  grating,  a  thing  often  done  by  servants, 
and  which  places  the  house  in  direct  commuica- 
tion  with  the  sewer. 

7.  English  sink  trap.    Its  only  advantage  is  a  greater 

depth  of  seal  water. 

?.  Surrey  siphon  trap  ;  open  to  the  same  objections  of 
the  S  trap,  of  which  it  is  a  modification. 

9.  Self-acting  valve  trap.  It  consists  of  a  chamber 
with  grating  at  the  top.  The  chamber  holds  about 
half  an  inch  of  seal  water  into  which  the  outer 
edge  of  a  hollow-turned  copper  ball  dips,  when  its 
bottom  rests  on  the  top  of  the  outlet  pipe,  and 
forms  a  valve.  When  water  enters  through  the 
grating  the  ball  floats  and  the  water  escapes; 
when  the  flow  subsides  the  ball  resumes  its  posi- 
tion. It  is  liable  to  the  same  objection  as  the  bell 
trap. 


56 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  V. 

1.  Antill's  sink  trap.    The  advantage  of  this  trap  is 

that  the  grating  may  be  removed  without  unseal- 
ing the  trap. 

2.  Horizontal  trap.    The  same  in  principle  as  the  pre- 

ceding one. 

3.  Ordinary  D  trap,  with  ventilating  pipe.    This  trap 

is  much  used,  though  possessing  no  advantages. 

4.  Low's  trap.    It  is  on  the  principle  of  this  trap  that 

corner  basins  are  built. 

5.  Combined  trap  and  gully  ;  good'for  stables  and  the 

like. 

All  traps,  no  matter  what  their  design  may  be,  are 
but  modifications  of  the  above. 


57 

two  metals  have  unequal  rates  of  contrac- 
tion and  expansion  under  the  same  degree 
of  temperature,  and,  however  well  they 
may  be  joined  at  first,  they  will  ultimately 
rend  at  the  seams.  Add  to  this  that  lead 
pipes  are  acted  upon  by  sewage  and  sew- 
age gases,  especially  under  the  presence 
of  lime,  which  under  unknown  but  fre- 
quent circumstances  perforates  them.  The 
experiments  of  Dr.  Fergus,  of  Glasgow, 
have  demonstrated  this  clearly.  He  cites 
a  great  number  of  instances  in  which  even 
after  only  a  few  months'  use  the  action  of 
these  gases  upon  the  material  of  the  soil- 
pipe  has  perforated  it  through  and 
through,  and  in  some  cases  completely 
honey-combed  a  considerable  area  of  its 
wall.  This  effect  is  produced  by  the 
gases,  and  not  by  the  foul  water,  as  is 
proven  by  the  fact  that  the  perforations 
are  always  at  the  upper  side  of  the  pipe, 
and  never  on  its  lower  side  where  the 
water  flows.  This  is  why  they  cause  no 
leakage,  and  may  exist  for  years  without 
being  detected. 

The  next  means  of  ingress  is  through 


58 

the  traps  themselves.  Firstly,  because 
many  traps  are  so  constructed  that  a  rush 
of  water  passing  them  will  syphon  them 
and  leave  them  empty;  especially  when, 
as  is  often  the  case,  their  caliber  has  be- 
come much  reduced  by  deposits.  Second- 
ly, because  in  cases  where  the  trap  is  not 
frequently  used,  the  vaporization  of  the 
sealing  water  leaves  it  open  for  the  pass- 
age of  gases.  Thirdly,  because  sewer 
gases  saturate  water  very  readily  arid  pass 
through  it  with  the  greatest  ease,  it  tak- 
ing only  fifteen  minutes  for  ammoniacal 
gas  to  react  upon  lithmus  paper  through 
a  trap  sealed  by  a  column  of  water  two 
inches  in  depth.  (See  explanation  of 
Plates  IV.  and  V.) 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  forces 
that  determine  the  passage  of  gases  into  the 
apartments  are  the  following.  The  lesser 
specific  gravity  of  sewer  gases  (carbonic 
.  acid  excepted)  as  compared  to  atmos- 
pheric air,  which  causes  the  former  to  dis- 
place the  latter,  ascend  in  the  pipes  and 
pass  through  the  openings.  The  excess 
of  pressure  in  the  sewer  arising  from  the 


59 

backing  up  of  water  in  the  outlets,  the 
impact  of  winds  and  the  sudden  filling  of 
the  pipes  with  rain  water.  The  direction 
of  the  descending  column  of  water  estab- 
lishing a  current  of  air  in  an  inverse  di- 
rection. The  draughts  generated  in  houses 
by  chimneys,  closets,  dumb-waiters,  and 
elevators,  which  establish  a  demand  for 
air  from  every  possible  source.  The 
higher  temperature  of  the  house  air  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  dram  and 
sewer,  causing  the  latter  to  rush  in 
through  the  smallest  crevices. 

HOW  TO  PROTECT  OUR  DWELLINGS. 

From  the  above  it  may  be  inferred  that 
protective  measures,  as  far  as  the  indivi- 
dual householder  is  concerned,  are  of  two 
kinds  :  Firstly,  those  which  refer  to  pre- ' 
venting  the  generation  of  gases  within  the 
house-drains.  Secondly,  those  which  de- 
bar the  entrance  into  the  house-drains  of 
the  emanations  from  the  sewers.  To 
attain  the  first  end,  perfectly  smooth  bore 
iron  soil-pipes  for  the  closet,  with  such  a 
flushing  apparatus  as  to  insure  perfect 


60 

scouring,  should  be  used.  The  waste- 
pipe  should  be  of  lead,  laid  in  perfectly 
straight  lines,  with  easy  curves,  where 
curves  are  unavoidable,  Tiaving  the  proper 
inclination.  They  should  not,  save  under 
special  circumstances,  connect  with  the 
soil-pipe;  and  where  the  plan  we  shall 
recommend  hereafter  is  not  adopted  they 
should  connect  with  the  drain-pipe,  the 
connection  being  curved  in  the  direction 
of  the  current  in  the  drain. 

The  drain-pipe  should  be  a  six-inch  iron 
pipe,  with  joints  caulked  with  lead,  placed 
above  (never  beneath)  the  cellar  floor,  with 
a  continuation  of  glazed  earthenware  pipe 
from  the  point  it  emerges  from  the  house  ; 
and  pass  underground  on  a  proper  foun- 
dation to  the  sewer.  The  inclination 
being  that  which  will  secure  a  velocity  of 
from  three  to  ten  feet  per  second.  These 
conditions  and  means  of  ventilation  pro- 
vided by  carrying  every  soil-pipe  up  to  the 
top  of  the  house  will  preclude  the  possi- 
bility of  gases  generating  in  the  drains, 
which  should  nevertheless  be  of  easy 
access  throughout.  As  for  the  second, 


PLATE  VI. 

Fio.  1. 


.» 

3 

rn    EARTH 

-n.'    •/,,  ••'/'  'A    '     ."  ".'. 

FIG.  2. 


62 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  VI. 
Fia.  1.— Air  chamber  for  disconnecting  house  drains 

from  sewers,  in  temperate  climates. 
A.— Air  chamber. 
B.— Soil  pipe. 

CCCL— Course  of  waste  waters. 
D.— Trap. 
EE.— Open  double  grating.     On   the   lower  grating 

charcoal  may  be  placed. 
F.— Pipe  reaching  to  the  roof. 
HH.— Joint  for  pipe  F. 
G.— Diaphragm  dividing  the   air  chamber  into   two 

parts. 
L.— Waste  pipe  or  water  leader. 

FIG.— 2.— Chamber    for    disconnecting    drains    from 

sewers,  for  colder  climates. 
A. —Communication  with  house  drains. 
B.— Communication  with  the  external  air,  by  means  of 

a  pipe  carried  to  the  roof  of  house. 
C.— Communication  with  street  sewer. 
D.E.— Covered  apertures  for  inspecting  and  cleaning. 
F.— First  diaphragm,  which   may  be  forced  by  air 

from  the  sewer,  which  will  then  escape  through 

pipe  attached  to  B. 
O. — Second  diaphragm,  which  cannot  be  forced  by 

air  from  sewer. 


63 

given  the  existence  of  foul  gases  in  the 
street  sewers,  nothing  short  of  an  absolute 
disconnection  from  them  may  be  con- 
sidered safe.  Even  then  we  are  not  sure 
that  the  leakage  into  the  subsoil  of  imper- 
fe3tly  constructed  and  badly  maintained 
sewers  will  not  be  the  means  of  facilitat- 
ing the  percolation  of  gases  through  our 
house  foundations  into  our  cellars,  and 
thence  by  the  natural  upward  current,  into 
our  rooms.  The  proposed  disconnection 
may  be  effected  in  one  of  the  folio  wing- 
manners  : 

In  France,  England,  and  other  coun- 
tries enjoying  milder  climate  than  ours, 
it  is  usual  to  disconnect  the  house- 
drains  from  the  street  sewers  by  discharg- 
ing the  contents  of  the  former,  just  out- 
side the  house-walls,  into  a  tank  or  cham- 
ber open  at  the  top  into  which  the  water 
leaders  are  also  turned.  [Plate  VI.,  Fig.  1.] 

Could  we  adopt  the  same  plan  we  would 
need  look  for  no  further  method  of  dis- 
connection, as  none  can  be  more  complete 
or  effective .  But  the  severity  of  our  winters 
renders  this  plan  inexpedient,  at  least  if 


64 

followed  in  all  its  details.  All  out-of-door 
drains  with  us  must  be  placed  deep  under 
ground  to  insure  against  freezing.  The 
chamber,  therefore,  if  adopted,  would  have 
to  be  placed  at  a  depth  of  at  least  six  feet, 
its  walls  built  up  to  the  surface,  and  an 
extra  grating  placed  a  few  inches  above 
the  level  of  the  water  current  to  hold 
straw  or  other  packing  in  cold  weather. 
Even  with  these  precautions  I  am  not 
sure  but  that  freezing  might  ensue  during 
severe  thermal  depression.  Under  these 
peculiarly  aggravating  circumstances  we 
beg  leave  to  suggest  a  plan  of  connection, 
or  rather  disconnection,  which  performs 
the  triple  office  of  thoroughly  ventilating 
the  house-drains,  abundantly  ventilating 
the  street  sewers  and  effectively  breaking 
the  connection  between  the  one  and  the 
other. 

The  proposed  plan,  fully  illustrated  in 
Plate  VII.,  is  as  follows :  Let  the  drain-pipe 
start  from  the  top  of  the  house  down 
the  kitchen  chimney  to  the  cellar,  thence 
to  the  outside  of  the  house,  where  it  shall 
discharge  into  a  receptacle  shaped  after 


65 

the  manner  of  Plate  X.,  Fig.  2.  Let  the 
soil-pipe  also  start  from  the  roof  of  the 
house,  take  in  all  waste-pipes  on  its  way 
down,  and  discharge  with  a  gentle  curve 
into  the  drain-pipe.  Let  there  be  a  pipe 
carried  from  the  upper  part  of  the  recep- 
tacle above  the  outer  wall  of  the  house  to 
the  roof.  Let  the  receptacle  be  connected 
with  the  street  sewer  by  a  drain-pipe  of  the 
same  dimension  as  the  house  drain-pipe  ; 
and,  on  a  line  with  the  curbstone  let  a 
vertical  ventilating  shaft  be  connected  with 
this  drain,  rising  three  feet  above  the 
ground  level,  capped  with  a  perforated 
top,  to  which  a  ring  may  be  added  to 
make  it  serve  as  horse-post  as  well. 

The  working  of  this  system  is  so  obvious, 
we  would  consider  it  a  loss  of  time  to  give 
any  more  detailed  explanation,  for  it  is 
plain  that  a  constant  circuit  of  air  must  be 
established  down  the  soil-pipe  and  up  the 
drain-pipe,  that  no  sewer-gas  can  reach 
the  trapped  receptacle,  but  must  escape 
through  the  ventilating  horse-post;  and 
that  if  any  should  find  its  way  to  the  re- 
ceptacle and  force  the  first  diaphragm,  it 


66 

would  escape  through  the  pipe  at  the  top 
and  never  reach  the  house-drain.  We, 
therefore,  venture  to  assert  that  any  house 
drained  in  this  manner  is  as  safe  from  the 
entrance  of  sewer  gases  through  its  drain- 
pipe, and  as  free  from  the  possibility  of 
the  generation  of  gases  within  its  drain, 
soil,  and  waste-pipes  as  it  is  within  the 
power  of  man  to  make  it ;  and  further- 
more, that  if  every  house  were  drained  in 
this  manner  and  all  sewers  were  ventilated 
by  each  house-drain  in  this  way,  sewer 
gases,  in  connection  with  drains,  would  be 
an  unheard-of  thing. 

It  might  be  thoughtlessly  argued 
against  this  plan,  that  while  it  effectively 
excludes  gases  from  our  dwellings,  it  dis- 
charges them  in  the  public  thoroughfares, 
polluting  the  air  of  the  city. 

To  which  I  would  reply  in  the  first 
place,  that  one  of  the  greatest  safeguards 
against  sewer  gas  contamination,  is  its 
dilution  with  atmospheric  air;  that  the 
diffusibility  of  these  gases  is  so  great, 
that  they  would  soon  be  thoroughly 
mixed  with  the  large  body  of  air  into 


67 


PLATE  VII. 


68 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  VII. 
Author's  system  of  disconnection  of  house  drains 

from  street  sewers,  and  ventilation  of  both. 
A.— Soil  pipe  op  A  at  the  top. 
B.— Drain  pipe  open  at  the  top. 
C.— Closets. 
B.— Disconnecting  chamber.     A  pipe    which  should 

lead  from  the  center  of  this  chamber  to  the  roof 

of  house  is  not  shown  in  this  drawing.     Vide  B., 

PI.  X.,  Fig.  2 

E.— Horse-post  ventilator. 
F.— Street  sewer. 


69 

which  they  would  be  discharged,  and  that 
their  affinity  for  oxygen  is  so  powerful 
that  it  would  take  them  but  a  few  seconds 
to  be  thoroughly  oxidized  and  rendered 
harmless. 

In  the  second  place,  that  if  every  house 
drain  on  its  way  to  the  street  sewer  were 
provided  with  the  "  horse-post  ventilator," 
the  sewers  would  be  so  abundantly  sup- 
plied with  air,  through  them,  and  the  per- 
forated manhole  covers,  there  would  be 
no  gases  of  a  harmful  nature  in  them. 1  ° 
In  the  third  place,  that  given  the  exist- 
ence of  badly  maintained  and  poorly  ven- 
tilated sewers,  the  house  that  shall  adopt 
this  plan  shall  still  be  protected  against 
contamination  through  its  drains ;  and, 
that  it  protects  our  dwelling  is  all  we 
claim  for  this  system.  The  protection  of 
the  city  at  large  is  the  duty  of  the  city 
government,  not  of  the  individual  house- 
holder. Let  each  one  do  his  duty  toward 
his  own  household  first,  and  the  demands 
upon  the  authorities  to  perform  theirs 
will  soon  follow ;  though  we  fear  that  not 
until  the  properties  of  air  and  water  and 
food  are  taught  in  primary  schools  in 


70 

preference  to  the  abstract  rules  of  gram- 
mar, and  the  distorted  facts  of  history, 
will  men  come  to  understand  the  magni- 
tude of  the  crime  that  is  committed  by 
those  who  poison  the  air  of  their  cities, 
the  water  of  their  rivers,  the  supplies  of 
their  market  places. 


NOTES  TO  PART   I. 


NOTE  1. 

There  are  several  methods  of  removing  the  wastes 
of  a  city  besides  the  water-carriage  system.  Some 
advocate  the  plan  of  burning  all  the  refuse  of  the 
population.  Others  hold  that  air  is  the  best  agent 
for  the  removal  of  sewage  and  urge  the  adoption  of  a 
pneumatic  system  ingenious  in  its  construction,  but 
by  far  too  intricate  for  practical  use.  Others  recom- 
mend earth  as  the  best  means  of  deodorizing  and 
facilitating  the  removal  of  human  excreta ;  but  save 
in  small  communities,  such  as  barracks,  hospitals, 
prisons  and  the  like,  it  is  impracticable  on  account  of 
the  quantity  of  earth  needed  for  the  purpose— ten 
pounds  per  capita,  daily.  ^ 

The  real  objections  to  the  water-carriage  system  as 
practiced  with  us,  is  that  the  sewage  is  not  utilized, 
and  that  our  streams  are  polluted  thereby.  The 
Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Health  of  Massachu- 
setts, for  1873,  contains  a  report  from  Prof.  William 
R.  Nichols  and  Dr.  George  Derby,  in  which  they 
conclude,  from  numerous  analyses  of  the  sewage  of 
Boston,  that  its  average  value  is  about  one  cent  per 
ton ;  and  from  numerous  analyses  of  the  sewage  of 
Worcester,  they  conclude  the  average  value  of  the 
dry-weather  sewage  to  be  about  seven-eighths  of  a 
cent  per  ton. 


This  whole  subject  has  received,  and  is  now  receiv- 
ing, the  earnest  and  careful  attention  of  many  very 
able  minds;  and  expensive  experiments  are  being 
carried  on  upon  a  large  scale  in  many  places.  In 
fact,  "nearly  the  whole  civilized  world  is  not  only 
interested  in  this  problem,  but  directly  or  indirectly 
engaged  in  seeking  its  solution."  The  results,  how- 
ever, are  not  yet  sufficiently  denned  to  warrant  any 
decided  conclusions ;  and  while  the  sanitary  engineer 
will  feel  bound  to  recommend  that  sewerage  works 
be  so  constructed,  where  practicable,  that  they  may 
eventually  form  part  of  a  plan  for  the  utilization  of 
the  waste  products,  or  avoiding  contamination, 
without  great  expense  in  changes,  he  is  hardly  war- 
ranted in  actually  executing  work,  at  present,  to  do 
more  than  fulfill  the  first  requirement  of  a  system  for 
the  removal  of  refuse ;  which  is,  to  get  rid  of  the  sew- 
age quickly,  in  an  unobjectionable  manner. 

This  can  be  most  effectually  and  safely  done  by  the 
water-carriage  system,  which  provides  for  the  removal 
of  the  greater  portion  of  all  refuse,  and  is  capable  of 
being  combined  in  one  system  with  the  conveyance  of 
storm  waters. 

NOTE  2. 

COMPOSITION  OF  SEWAGE.— Average  of  54  specimens 
from  18  cities  where  closets  are  used : 

Total  solid  matters  in  solution 72.200 

Organic  carbon 4.696 

Organic  nitrogen 2.205 

Ammonia 6.703 

Nitrates  and  nitrites 0.003 

Total  combined  nitrogen 7.728 

Chlorine 10.660 

Suspended  mineral  matter -.24.180 

Suspended  organic  matter 20.510 

Average  of  37  specimens  from  15  cities  and  towns 
where  the  modern  closet  is  not  used : 


73 

Total  solid  matters  in  solution 82.400 

Organic  carbon 4.181 

Organic  nitrogen 1.975 

Ammonia 5.435 

Nitrates  and  nitrites 0.000 

Total  combined  nitrogen 6.451 

Chlorine 11.540 

Suspended  mineral  matter —  17.810 

Suspended  organic  matter 21.300 

NOTE  3. 

The  diseases  that  have  directly  or  indirectly  been 
attributed  to  the  effects  of  sewer  gases  in  one  form 
or  another  are :  Abscesses -Adenitis,  or  inflammation 
of  the  lymphathic  glands— Ague,  or  intermittent  fever 
—Aphthae,  or  thrush— Boils— Carbuncle— Cellulitis,  or 
diffused  inflammation  of  the  areolar  tissue— Cephalal- 
gia,  or  headache— Cerebro-spinal-meningitis,  or  spot- 
ted fever— Chicken  Pox— Cholera  (Asiatic),  Cholera- 
infantum— Conjunctivitis,  or  inflammation  of  the 
mucous  membrane  of  the  eye— Convulsions— Croup- 
Diarrhoea— Diphtheria-Dysentery— Eczema— Enteritis, 
or  inflammation  of  small  intestines— Equinia,  or  gland- 
ers —  Erysipelas  —  Feverishness  —  Fever,  remittent, 
intermittent,  and  others -General  Debility— Hemi- 
cranea,  or  neuralgia  of  one  side  of  forehead— Hooping 
Cough— Mammary  abscess,  or  abscess  of  breast- 
Measles— Miliaria,  or  rash— Myalgia,  or  pain  in  the 
muscles -Neuralgia— Ophthalmia,  or  inflammation' of 
the  eye  —  Phthisis,  or  plumonary  consumption  — 
Plague,  or  pestilential  fever— Puerperal  Fever,  or 
childbed  fever  —  Rheumatism  —  Rubeola  —  Scarlet 
Fever— Septicaemia— Small  Pox— Styes— Tonsillitis,  or 
quinsy— Typhoid  Fever  — Typhus  Fever —Vertigo- 
Yellow  Fever. 

NOTE  4. 

Although  the  result  of  the  careful  investigations 


74 


carried  on  at  the  present  moment  as  to  the  causes  of 
the  late  epidemic  of  yellow  fever  in  the  Southern 
States  has  not  yet  been  made  public,  we  venture  to 
predict  that  its  dependence  on  the  opportunities 
afforded  for  filth  contamination  through  bad  drain- 
age, bad  sewerage  and  improper  removal  of  surface 
filth,  will  be. thoroughly  established. 

Since  the  publication  of  our  First  Edition,  the  above 
prophecy  has  been  verified  in  every  particular. 

NOTE  5. 

Let  it  be  understood  that  the  assurance  given  here 
that  nitrogen  and  other  gases  are  harmless,  does  not 
iniply  that  they  are  respirable  or  capable  of  sustain- 
ing life.  No  gas,  or  combination  of  gases,  save 
atmospheric  air  (oxygen  21,  and  nitrogen  79),  is 
capable  of  sustaining  life  ;  and  any  one  attempting  to 
substitute  any  other  gas,  or  mixture  of  gases,  for  at- 
mospheric air,  would  soon  perish.  We  simply  mean 
that  the  gases  spoken  of  as  harmless  do  not  produce 
any  injury  to  the  system  if  breathed  in  combination 
with  atmospheric  air  for  a  reasonable  length  of  time. 

NOTE  6. 

Dr.  Folsom,  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Health, 
expresses  himself  in  these  terms : 

"  Whatever  theory  of  bacteria  and  '  germs '  proves 
true,  the  evidence  accumulates  each  year  to  show— 
1st.  That  under  certain  conditions,  human  excremen- 
titious  matter  in  certain  diseases  is  almost  certain 
poison,  producing  the  parent  disease  in  a  great 
number  of  cases  of  those  exposed  to  it.  2d.  That  we 
must  either  acknowledge  that  these  diseases,  especi- 
ally cholera  and  typhoid  fever,  may  arise  de  novo 
under  certain  conditions  of  filth  not  yet  wholly 
known,  or  else  that  the  contagious  matter  is  of  extra- 
ordinary vitality,  and  capable  of  being  conveyed  in 
manners  and  to  distances  not  now  usually  suspected. 


75 


"If  the  fact  be  true,  that  such  diseases  arise  with 
out  the  specific  poison  from  a  previous  case,  many 
epidemics  may  be  explained  which  are  otherwise 
entire  mysteries  ;  but  it  would  be  difficult  to  account 
for  the  dozen  of  cases  to  which  many  a  farmer  can 
point,  where  a  family  have  for  years  used  the  water 
from  a  well  close  to  an  accumulation  of  filth,  without 
apparent  harm,  except  on  the  theory  that  the  filth 
was  not  sufficiently  concentrated,  or  that  a  healthy 
person  living  under  generally  healthful  conditions  is 
usually  able  to  resist  such  deleterious  influences  until 
his  system  is,  for  some  cause  or  other,  below  par." 

Virchow  thinks  that  ordinary  putrefaction  may, 
under  certain  circumstances,  produce  dysentery,  ty- 
phoid fever,  and  other  zymotic  diseases. 

Pettenkofer  holds  that  each  of  these  diseases  has 
its  own  specific  poison,  which  alone  can  reproduce  its 
kind. 

Liebermiester  thinks  that  filth,  gaseous  or  other- 
wise, furnishes  a  favorable  nidus  for  diseases  to 
thrive, 

NOTE  7. 

The  Cloaca  Maxima  was  originally  built  as  a  surface 
and  subsoil  drain.  It  was  intended  merely  to  drain 
off  the  water  about  the  Forum.  Later,  it  was  used  as 
a  sewer  as  well,  and  to  this  day  it  performs  both 
offices.  It  is  undoubtedly  from  this  old  pattern  that* 
the  modern  system  of  "drain  sewers"  has  been 
derived. 

NOTB  8. 

The  report  of  the  Brooklyn  Board  of  Health  for 
1875  and  1876  contains  a  valuable  paper  on  the  Sewers 
of  Brooklyn,  by  Col.  J.  W.  Adams,  which  should  be 
carefully  studied  by  all  those  interested  in  the  sub- 
ject. 


76 


NOTE  9. 

The  stagnant  waters  of  corner  basins  should  be  re- 
moved at  least  once  in  six  days.  To  leave  them  a 
longer  time  is  to  create  an  intolerable  nuisance. 


NOTE  10. 

Several  suggestions  have  been  made,  from  time  to 
time,  in  reference  to  the  use  of  the  lamp  posts  in  the 
streets  as  ventilators  for  the  sewers.  We  would  con- 
sider it  a  good  plan  but  for  the  fact  that  lamp  posts 
are  too  far  apart,  and  are  therefore  insufficient  for 
the  purpose.  In  combination  with  the  author's 
horse-post  ventilator,  they  would  be  very  valuable 
adjuvants. 


PART  II. 


CONTENTS  OF  PART  II. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  SUBSOIL  DRAINAGE. 
RELATIONS  BETWEEN  GROUND   WATER  AND 

DISEASE. 

THE  ISOLATION  OF  BUILDINGS. 
OTHER  PROTECTIVE  MEASURES. 
VENTILATION  OF  DWELLINGS. 
DISINFECTANTS. 
PRACTICAL  DISINFECTION. 
GARBAGE  GASES. 
DISPOSAL  OF  GARBAGE. 


SEWER    GASES 

AND 

How  TO  PROTECT  OUR  DWELLINGS. 


u. 


IMPORTANCE    OF    SUBSOIL    DRAINAGE. 

I  have  endeavored  iii  the  first  part  of 
this  work  to  discuss  the  nature  and  ori- 
gin of  sewer  gases,  their  modes  of  ad- 
mission into  our  dwellings  through  the 
house  drains,  and  the  best  methods  of 
barring  their  entrance  through  those 
channels.  It  remains  for  us  to  consider 
whether  there  be  not  other  avenues  open 
to  these  foul  vapors ;  if  so,  what  may  be 
done  to  prevent  their  ingress  ;  and  lastly, 
to  state  which  are  the  most  efficacious 
means  of  destroying  them,  or  counteract- 
ing their  pernicious  effects  when  we  are 
not  iii  a  position  to  make  at  oiice  the 


80 

changes  in  the  appointments  of  the 
house  that  are  destined  to  banish  them 
entirely. 

It  was  admitted  in  the  foregoing  pages 
that  the  best  constructed  sewers  and 
those  best  maintained,  will  allow  of  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  percolation  into  the  sub- 
soil; this  amount,  however  small,  must 
of  necessity  increase  as  the  system  grows 
and  multiplies ;  and  it  must  follow  that 
the  subsoil  of  all  large  cities,  under  ordi- 
nary circumstances,  must  be  sewage  pol- 
luted and  contaminated. 

For  this  and  many  other  reasons  it 
seems  desirable  that  every  effort  should 
be  made,  and  no  expense  spared,  in  order 
to  secure  perfect  drying  and  aerating  of 
the  subsoil  of  urban  districts-  It  is  a 
well  ascertained  fact,  that  while  the  dry- 
ing and  consequent  admission  of  air  into 
a  soil  enables  it  to  exert  that  chemical  in- 
fluence necessary  to  neutralize  all  organic 
compounds  and  purify  the  foulest  sewage, 
the  stagnation  of  both  air  and  water  in 
the  soil  establish  the  conditions  most 
favorable  to  putrefaction  and  decay. 


81 

Where  the  sites  of  cities  are  properly 
drained,  that  is,  provided  with  channels 
for  the  removal  of  subsoil  water,  the 
earth  acquires  the  requisite  degree  of 
dryness  to  insure  purification  of  leakage 
from  sewers  and  other  impurities,  but 
where — as  in  most  cases — these  works  of 
ground  drainage  are  neglected,1  the  soil 
must  naturally  be  teeming  with  putrefy- 
ing matter  and  saturated  with  foul  gases. 

That  these  gases  circulate  under  ground, 
both  in  their  free  state  and  in  solution, 
especially  where  a  paved  surface  prevents 
their  escape  upwards,  is  an  obvious  fact. 
That  they  penetrate  foundation  walls  with 
the  greatest  ease,  may  be  seen  by  the  fol- 
lowing table,  which  indicates  the  quantity 
of  air  passing  through  a  square  yard  of 
wall  of  ordinary  thickness  and  of  different 
materials  in  one  hour: 

PENETRATING   POWER   OF   GASES. 

Through  Sandstone  wall 4.70  cub.  ft. 

' '       Quarried  limestone  walls .  6 . 50      *  * 

"       Brick  walls 7.90      " 

"  Tufaceous  limestone  walls,  10.10      " 

This  table  only  allows  for  a  difference 


82 


in  temperature  of  9£  degrees.  The  pene- 
trating power  would  be  much  increased 
by  greater  thermal  difference  and  by  the 
impact  of  wind  and  rain  storms.  Every 
sub-cellar,  therefore,  in  a  city  not  provided 
with  works  of  subsoil  drainage,  is  virtual- 
ly an  intercepting  tank  built  expressly  for 
the  reception  of  the  surrounding  pestilen- 
tial moistures  and  gases. 

These  gases  are  precisely  of  the  same 
nature  as  those  found  in  sewers  and 
house-drains,  and  once  admitted  into  the 
lower  part  of  a  building,  find  their  way 
up  to  the  higher  floors,  and  infest  every 
nook  and  comer  of  the  dwelling  through 
heating  flues,  dumb-waiters,  closets ;  and, 
in  fact,  through  the  very  plastering  and 
planking  of  ceilings  and  floorings. 

The  effects  of  ground  moisture  not 
having  been  considered  in  the  first  part 
of  this  work,  deserves  to  be  noticed  at 
some  length  here,  more  especially  as 
such  moisture  always  holds  in  solution 
some  of  the  gases  which  we  are  dis- 
cussing. 


83 

RELATIONS    BETWEEN    GROUND    WATER 
AND    DISEASE. 

The  class  of  diseases  most  frequently 
noted  in  connection  with  ground  water,  as 
revealed  by  damp  cellars,  are  Phthisis  Pul- 
monalis,  inflammatory  diseases  of  the  res- 
piratory organs,  especially  Bronchitis  and 
Pneumonia,  Eheumatism,  more  particular- 
ly of  the  chronic  order,  chronic  perver- 
sions of  digestion ;  also,  a  lessened  power 
of  resistance  to  all  diseases  when  con- 
tracted. 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  influence  of 
dampness  upon  health  as  indicated  by  the 
rate  of  mortality,  we  should  examine  the 
effect  of  a  wet  atmosphere,  and  compare 
it  with  that  of  a  dry  one.  The  number  of 
deaths  from  consumption  in  towns  which 
are  naturally  dry  is*  so  much  smaller  than 
in  towns  situated  on  a  water-logged  soil, 
that  many  authorities  hold  the  ground 
water  alone  responsible  for  the  production 
of  the  disease. 

Mr.  Simon  and  Dr.  Buchanan  jointly 
report  to  the  Privy  Council  of  Great 
Britain  that  "investigations  confirm  beyond 


84 

all  posibility  of  question  that  dampness 
of  soil  is  an  important  cause  of  phthisis." 

Dr.  Bowditch,  in  a  report  addressed 
to  the  Medical  Society  of  Massachusetts, 
says :  "  Medical  opinion,  as  deduced  from 
the  written  statements  of  resident  physi- 
cians in  183  towns,  tends  strongly  to 
prove  the  existence  of  a  law  on  the  de- 
velopment of  consumption  (in  Massachus- 
etts), which  law  has  for  its  central  'idea 
that  dampness  of  the  soil  is  intimately 
connected  with  the  prevalence  of  con- 
sumption." 

In  conclusion,  to  show  the  deleterious 
effect  of  ground  water,  nothing  can  be 
more  pertinent  than  to  cite  the  case  of 
fifteen  English  towns  where  the  drainage 
(not  sewerage)  of  the  soil  had  the  effect 
of  reducing  the  mortality  from  phthisis  as 
follows : 


Salisbury 49  perct. 

Ely 47 


Cheltenham .  26  per  ct. 
Bristol..      ..22      " 


Rugby 43  |  Dover 20 

Banbury 41       ' 


Worthing,.  .36 

Leicester 32 

Macclesfield..31 
Newport 32 


Warwick ...  19 

Croydon 17 

Cardiff .17 

Merthyr 11 


85 


Those  who  would  know  the  true  effect 
of  ground  water  upon  human  dwellings 
should  read  the  reports  of  the  Metro- 
politan (New  York)  Board  of  Health, 
those  of  Drs.  Duncan,  Aldis,  Buchanan, 
Thorne,  and  Kadcliff,  addressed  to  the 
Medical  Officer  of  the  Local  Government 
Bureau,  Great  Britain,  and  those  of  the 
Massachusetts  Board  of  Health.  , 

Statistics  all  over  the  world  show  that 
disease  claims  as  many  victims  from  damp 
and  sewage-reeking  floors  and  walls  as 
from  any  other  cause  affecting  the  sanitary 
condition  of  towns.  The  importance, 
therefore,  of  the  drainage  of  the  sites  of 
all  dwelligns  will  be  admitted. 

Another  important  factor  in  the  matter 
under  consideration  is  capillary  attraction. 
All  soils  are  more  or  less  subject  to  it/ 
In  the  chalk  formation,  water  will  -rise 
from  the  level  of  complete  saturation  to 
a  very  considerable  height  above  it 
while  a  bed  of  sand  wrill  be  completely  dry 
only  two  or  three  feet  above  the  water, 
standing  in  it.  It  may  be  taken  as  a  rule 
that  wherever  ground  is  water-logged 


86 

owing  to  the  want  of  an  outlet  or  the  ob- 
struction of  its  water-courses,  whether  the 
soil  be  a  dense  clay  or  an  open  gravel,  it 
is  unfit  for  the  site  of  human  habitations 
until  the  subsoil  water  is  lowered,  by 
drainage,  to  such  a  depth  as  to  insure 
against  the  rising  of  moisture  by  capillary 
attraction  up  to  the  cellar  floors  and  the 
foundation  walls  of  houses. 

Nevertheless,  if  we  examine  closely  into 
the  condition  of  inhabited  places,  we  find 
considerable  areas  of  made,  water-logged 
land  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  covered  with 
dwellings,  regardless  of  the  height  of  the 
subsoil  water  beneath.  If  further  we 
examine  into  the  rate  of  mortality  from 
lung  diseases,  we  see  that  they  are  in- 
creased exactly  in  proportion  as  wetness 
prevails. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  it  is  to  be  regret- 
ted that  in  many  cases  those  charged  with 
the  planning  and  building  of  city  works 
should  consider  it  sufficient  to  sewer  the 
city  and  trust  simply  to  the  effect  of  the 
sewer-trench  for  the  removal  of  subsoil 
water.2  In  all  cases  and  in  all  soils.  110 


87 

matter  how  porous,  drains  placed  in  con- 
junction with,  though  separated  from  the 
sewers,  would  greatly  contribute  to  the 
salubriousness  of  a  city. 

THE    ISOLATION    OF  BUILDINGS. 

That  no  house  built  upon  polluted  soil 
can  be  inhabitable,  unless  completely  iso- 
lated from  such  soil,  is  sufficiently  clear  ; 
and  that  all  urban  districts,  even  if  they 
be  sewered  and  drained  (though  in  the 
last  event  much  less  so),  must  fall  under 
the  denomination  of  polluted  soil,  is  also 
obvious.  It  is  important,  therefore,  that 
every  dwelhng  should  be  isolated  from  the 
soil  around  it. 

To  accomplish  this,  a  bed  of  some  im- 
pervious material3  should  be  laid  under  the 
cellar  floor  and  along  the  whole  base  of 
the  dwelling  from  outside  wall  to  outside 
wall  dipping  in  under  the  foundations. 
Or  the  foundation  walls  may  be  built  on  a 
base  of  concrete,  and  a  course  or  layer  of 
impervious  material  (cement  and  slate  or 
asphalt  are  much  used)  placed  between  the 
courses  of  bricks,  or  layers  of  stone  on  a 


88 

level  with  a  layer  of  the  same  material, 
which  should  be  placed  under  the  cellar 
floor.  [Plate  VIII.] 

It  would  be  well  if  all  dwellings  could 
have  areas  between  the  surrounding 
ground  and  their  cellar  walls.  Where  this 
is  impracticable,  the  layer  of  isolating 
material  should  be  carried  up  the  outside 
of  the  walls  to  the  ground  level. 

Cellars  should  be  ventilated,  and  under 
no  circumstance  should  they  be  construct- 
ed below  tide-level  or  in  clay  soils.  Dwel- 
lings in  such  localities  should  be  raised 
above  the  ground,  with  free  ventilation 
under  them. 

OTHER  PROTECTIVE  MEASURES. 

As  it  is  not  always  feasible  to  alter  the 
construction  of  house  drains  or  to  make 
cellars  impervious  as  soon  as  it  is  dis- 
covered that  noxious  gases  are  present 
in.  our  apartments  ;  as  there  are  many  who 
will  not,  though  they  can,  make  these 
alterations ;  others  who  cannot,  though 
they  would ;  and  not  a  few  who  still  pooh- 
pooh  the  whole  subject,  I  will  advert  to 


89 


90 

the  means  by  which  every  individual  may 
protect  at  least  his  sleeping-room,  and  if 
not  attain  absolute  immunity,  reduce 
the  chances  of  infection  to  the  minimum. 

Before  retiring  for  the  night,  the  bed- 
chamber should  be  thoroughly  ventilated, 
and  if  there  be  reasons  to  suspect  the 
presence  of  sewer  gases  in  the  atmosphere 
of  the  room,4  this  should  be  disinfected, 
after  which,  if  there  be  a  stationary  basin 
in  or  near  the  room,  its  waste  pipe  should 
be  disconnected  from  the  room  by  a  tem- 
porary trap  formed  in  the  following  man- 
ner: 

Place  the  stopper  in  position  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  basin,  and  to  prevent  its  being 
displaced  by  a  sudden  gush  of  gas  (a  thing 
that  often  happens),  put  a  weight  upon  it. 
Stop  each  one  of  the  holes  of  the  overflow 
at  the  top  of  the  basin  with  a  well-fitting 
cork.  Then  fill  the  basin  with  water  to 
half  an  inch  above  the  overflow. 

Examine  the  waste  pipe  under  the  basin 
and  see  that  the  mouth  of  the  overflow  fits 
well  over  the  spout  of  the  basin  and  is 
well  joined  to  it ;  if  there  be  a  crevice,  a 


91 

thing  that  may,  and  very  often  does,  exist 
for  years  without  occasioning  a  leak,  fill  it 
in  (temporarily)  with  a  putty  made  of 
pulverized  charcoal  and  tallow,  or  with  a 
putty  made  of  one  part  carbolic  acid  and 
f  out-  parts  linseed  oil  mixed  with  sufficient 
whiting  to  the  desired  consistency. 

With  these  precautions,  it  is  safe  to  in- 
fer that  no  gases  will  find  their  way 
through  the  waste-pipes  into  the  room. 

In  connection  with  this  last  subject  we 
have  mentioned  ventilation  and  disinfec- 
tion, and  we  would  consider  our  discussion 
of  the  protection  of  the  dwelling  incom- 
plete did  we  fail  to  devote  a  few  lines  to 
these  important  means  of  contributing 
towards  the  same. 

VENTILATON  OF  DWELLINGS. 

To  lift  a  window  sash  and  throw  open 
a  door  is,  in  the  average  mind,  the  estab- 
lished limit  of  all  idea  of  ventilation. 

How  much  air  enters  a  room  through 
its  openings,  or  how  much  should  enter, 
or  why  any  does  enter  at  all ;  nor  whether 
doors  and  windows  really  ventilate,  in  the 


92 

technical  sense  of  the  word,  or  are  simply 
means  of  just  preventing  air  starvation 
and  no  more  ;  these  are  questions  which, 
I  fear,  but  few  know  or  care  to  know  any- 
thing about. 

Fortunately  nature  takes  better  care  of 
us  than  we  take  care  of  ourselves.  There 
are  certain  physical  laws  by  which  in- 
jurious atmospheric  agents  are  destroyed 
or  overcome,  did  these  not  exist,  the 
whole  human  race  would  eventually  suc- 
cumb to  their  deleterious  influence. 

These  laws  are  of  two  kinds. 

First,  the  production  of  atmospheric 
currents,  or  winds,  by  the  influence  of 
which  the  impure  air  is  replaced  by  that 
which  is  pure,  carrying  away  the  agents  of 
mischief,  or  diluting  them  to  such  a  de- 
gree that  they  are  rendered  innocuous. 
These  may  be  called  the  mechanical  agents 
of  purification,  but  they  have  also  a  chem- 
ical aspect,  for  whilst  oxygen,  as  already 
mentioned,  is  an  essential  constituent  of 
the  atmosphere,  it  is  at  the  same  time  the 
great  purifier.  Through  its  agency  all 
occasional  ingredients  of  the  air,  noxious 


93 

or  otherwise,  can,  by  a  process  called 
oxidation,  be  reduced  to  simpler  and 
simpler  forms,  until,  eventually,  they  are 
rendered  inert.  The  atmosphere  is,  then, 
not  only  a  grand  receptacle,  but  also  the 
laboratory  for  the  decomposition  of  sub- 
stances finding  their  way  into  it,  converting 
noxious  into  harmless  compounds,  which 
are  not  useless,  but,  being  washed  down 
by  the  rain,  supply  a  fertilizing  fluid  to 
the  roots  of  vegetables,  minister  to  their 
growth,  and  finally  furnish,  through  the 
medium  of  the  plant,  wholesome  food  to 
man,  as  we  said  in  the  beginning. 

The  second  law  to  which  allusion  has 
been  made  is  that  which  is  called  Diffu- 
sion, meaning  a  property  which  gases  and 
vapors  have  of  spreading  or  diffusing 
themselves  tlirough  each  other.  By  vir- 
tue of  this  force  even  the  heaviest  gases 
rise  in  the  air,  and  the  most  dense  and 
the  most  rare  gradually  mix  with  each 
other,  the  effect  being  the  dispersion  of 
vaporous  matter  and  the  dilution  of  the 
injurious  air  by  that  which  is  pure  and 
respirable. 


94 

Such  are  the  self-acting  modes  of  purifi- 
cation with  which  nature  has  furnished 
the  atmosphere.  But  in  houses  the  same 
purifying  conditions  do  not  exist,  and  the 
confined  space  renders  contamination  and 
its  bad  effects  more  probable.  If,  then, 
free  circulation  in  the  open  air  removes 
impurities,  and  is  otherwise  conducive  to 
health,  it  is  called  for  more  imperatively 
in  our  dwellings,  and,  in  consequence,  we 
imitate  these  natural  agencies  by  ventila- 
tion. 

Fully  to  appreciate  the  importance  of 
ventilation,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  in 
detail  a  few  of  the  sources  of  contamina- 
tion to  which  our  habitations  are  sub- 
jected, independent  of  sewer  gases.  On 
an  average,  a  man  breathes  28,800  cubic 
inches,  or  16.66  cubic  feet  of  air  per  hour, 
and  produces  in  twenty-four  hours  12  to 
16  cubic  feet  of  carbonic  acid  gas.  To 
dilute  this  quantity  to  a  safe  limit,  so  that 
the  carbonic  acid  does  not  exceed  0.4  per 
thousand  of  air,  there  should  be  supplied 
at  least  100  times  the  volume  of  the  air 
expired,  or  more  than  1,666  cubic  feet  of 


95 

air  per  hour;  but  as  other  sources  of 
vitiation  are  present,  such  as  artificial 
combustion,  exhalation  of  the  skin,  etc., 
the  amount  should  really  be  2,802  cubic 
feet  per  hour.  In  sickness,  the  causes  of 
vitiation  being  more  abundant,  a  larger 
supply  is  needed.5  Under  such  circum- 
stances, not  less  than  4,500  cubic  feet 
should  be  furnished  in  the  same  time,  and 
during  epidemics  at  least  6,000  cubic  feet. 
Closely  allied  to  contamination  of  air  by 
respiration  is  that  produced  by  combus- 
tion, the  burning  of  one  candle  being 
equal  in  its  vitiating  effect  to  the  breath- 
ing of  one  person.  A  cubic  foot  of  coal 
gas  will,  on  an  average,  give,  when  burnt, 
2  cubic  feet  of  carbonic  acid  with  about 
-J  grain  of  sulphurous  acid,  and  this  will 
require  at  the  least  1,800  cubic  feet  of  air 
to  dilute  it  to  a  healthy  standard.  An-' 
ordinary  sitting-room  burner  consumes  3 
cubic  feet  of  gas  per  hour,  and  produces 
6  cubic  feet  of  carbonic  acid;  each  gas 
burner,  when  lighted,  is  therefore  equiva- 
lent to  the  presence  of  twelve  persons  in 
the  room. 


96 

That  there  should  be  no  means  provided 
for  the  escape  of  the  products  of  lighted 
gas  burners  in  our  dwellings,  is  one  of 
the  most  astounding  incongruities  of 
modern  architecture. 

The  amount  of  air  furnished  to  each 
person  in  a  given  apartment  is  found  by 
multiplying  the  dimensions  of  length, 
breadth,  and  height,  and  dividing  the 
product  by  the  number  of  persons.  The 
Poor  Law  Board  of  Great  Britain  allows 
300  cubic  feet  for  every  healthy  person  in 
dormitories,  and  500  cubic  feet  for  every 
sick  person ;  whilst  in  permanent  bar- 
racks, each  man  is  allowed  600  cubic  feet. 
But  the  quantity  alone  is  not  all  im- 
portant ;  the  renewal  of  the  air  is  quite  as 
essential,  for  the  purpose  of  removing  or 
diluting  to  the  degree  already  stated  the 
products  of  respiration  and  combustion. 

This  renewal  of  air  is  effected  in  one  of 
two  ways : 

Natural  ventilation,  effected  by  windows, 
doors,  and  crevices,  as  inlets;  and  chim- 
neys and  fireplaces  as  outlets. 

Artificial  ventilation,   which  is  usuallv 


97 

effected  by  the  action  of  valves  and  fans ; 
or  by  stoves,  or  other  artificial  heat,  in- 
cluding gas,  whereby  air  is  either  drawn 
into,  or  forced  out  of  an  apartment.  The 
fundamental  principles  of  ventilation  may 
be  stated  in  a  few  words,  and  should  never 
be  forgotten.  Whenever  air  is  heated,  it 
expands,  and,  becoming  lighter,  ascends, 
leaving  a  space  more  or  less  empty.  To 
supply  the  deficiency  thus  caused,  the 
surrounding  cold  air  rushes  in.  This 
process,  going  on  in  the  atmosphere 
around  us,  constitutes  a  wind  or  current 
of  air.  This  natural  law  is  imitated  in 
our  dwellings,  for  the  purpose  of  renew- 
ing the  air  which  we  have  contaminated ; 
thus,  when  a  fire  is  lighted  in  a  grate,  the 
air  in  the  chimney  becomes  heated  and 
ascends,  its  place  being  supplied  by  the .- 
external  air  rushing  in  through  the  crev- 
ices of  the  windows  and  doors,  and  flow- 
ing up  the  chimney.  The  process  contin- 
ues as  long  as  the  fire  is  burning  in  the 
grate,  and  as  long  as  the  foul  air  drawn 
into  the  chimney  is  heated  and  expanded 
on  its  arrival  there.  The  desired  exchange 


98 

is  now  produced,  and  will  continue,  pro- 
vided the  conditions  on  which  it  depends 
— a  supply  of  colder  air — meets  with  no 
interference.  But  it  will  not  go  on  when 
the  air  to  be  changed  is  equal  in  tempera- 
ture to,  or  colder  than  the  external  air; 
therefore,  the  change  is  most  active  in 
winter,  when  rooms  are  artificially 
warmed;  and  least  so  in  hot  weather, 
when  the  external  and  internal  tempera- 
tures approximate  each  other,  or  are  simi- 
lar. It  is  probable  that,  in  dwelling 
rooms,  provided  with  larg*e  open  fire- 
places, and  with  windows  and  doors 
which  are  frequently  opened,  the  ventila- 
tion is,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
tolerably  good.  It  is  in  rooms  otherwise 
appointed  that  assistance  is  more  especi- 
ally demanded. 

In  considering  the  subject  in  detail,  the 
first  point  is  the  introduction  of  the  air. 
When  it  enters  at  the  windows  and  doors 
in  the  manner  previously  mentioned,  and 
when  no  other  arrangement  exists, 
draughts  are  certain  to  be  established, 
more  or  less,  according  to  the  size  of  the 


99 

apertures.  It  may  seem  singular  that  a 
room  insufficiently  supplied  with  air  may 
be  draughty,  but,  nevertheless,  it  is  a 
fact.  If,  when  a  fire  is  burning  in  a 
room,  as  much  air  cannot  enter  as  passes 
away  by  the  chimney,  the  pressure  of  air 
within  is  diminished,  and  the  outer  air 
then  rushes  in  with  violence  through 
every  available  crevice  or  aperture,  and 
draughts  shoot  in  every  direction. 

The  question  how  and  where  to  intro- 
duce the  cold  air,  required  for  ventilation 
and  combustion,  in  an  imperceptible  man- 
ner, is  difficult  to  solve,  and  is  not  settled 
in  a  satisfactory  manner.  The  main 
points  demanding  attention  are  the  equal 
distribution  of  the  current,  by  causing 
the  air  to  pass  through  a  large  number  of 
apertures,  such  as  wire  gauze,  perforated 
zinc,  and  the  like,  and  the  employment  of 
adequate  means  to  bring  it  to  a  suitable 
temperature,  by  being  made  to  circulate 
through  boxes  heated  by  steam  pipes,  or 
through  chambers  behind  or  around 
stoves  or  grates.  If  the  ah-  is  properly 
heated  it  should  enter  the  room  near  the 


100 

floor-;  if  not,  it  should  be  brought  into  the 
room  9  or  10  inches  from  the  floor,  a  direc- 
tion towards  the  ceiling  being  given  to  it, 
so  that  it  may  pass  upwards,  then  fall,  and 
gradually  mix  with  the  air  of  the  room. 
Windows  properly  constructed,  made  to 
open  above  and  below,  and  suitably 
placed,  afford  ready,  though  not  always 
sufficient,  means  for  the  natural  ventila- 
tion of  dwellings.  The  air  is  better  di- 
rected and  distributed  by  making  the  top 
sash  of  the  window  open  slopingly  by  a 
lever  and  pivot,  the  pivot  being  placed, 
not  in  the  center,  but  at  the  bottom  of 
the  sash,  by  which  the  down  draught  is 
avoided;  or  a  board  may  be  placed 
obliquely  from  the  top  sash  of  the  win- 
dow, when  it  is  open  in  the  usual  manner. 
By  either  of  these  contiivances  the  in- 
coming current  is  directed  to  the  ceiling, 
is  divided,  and  has  its  velocity  checked. 
Lockhead's  ventilator,  and  its  many  modi- 
fications, fulfill  the  same  object.  [Plate  X., 

rig.  i.] 

Rooms  in  which  a  fire  is  burning  should 
be  furnished  with  a  supply  of  outside  air, 


101 

PLATE  IX. 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  IX. 

FIG.  1.— Grate  with  valves  aa  to  supply  air  from  an 
external  source  ;  b,  channel  below  the  floor  com- 
municating with  external  air. 

FIG.  2.— Horizontal  section  across  the  upper  part  of  a 
grate  to  admit  air  through*  open  spandrels  aa,  the 
air  passing  into  the  back  of  the  grate  and  becom- 
ing there  heated  before  entering  the  room. 


102 

by  conveying  it  through  a  pipe,  or  cham- 
ber, formed  under  the  floor,  or  in  the 
wall,  leading  to  the  fireplace,  in  order  that 
it  may  be  warmed  before  circulating  in 
the  room  (Plate  IX.),  and,  by  a  little  con- 
trivance, warm  air  may  be  made  to  feed 
the  fire.  An  independent  supply  of  this 
kind  is  calculated  to  prevent  the  chimney 
from  smoking,  and  to  secure  economy  of 
fuel,  as  well  as  freedom  from  cold  draughts, 
passing  from  windows,  doors  and  crevices 
to  the  fire. 

Where  it  is  feasible  it  would  be  well  to 
sink  thej  tubes  that  supply  air  to  apart 
ments  about  ten  feet  underground.  By 
this  means  the  air  would  be  15°  Fahr. 
warmer  than  the  outside  air  in  winter, 
and  in  summer  20°  cooler. 

Numerous  inventions  have  been  pat- 
ented for  the  introduction  of  air  into 
apartments  without  draughts.  A  very 
simple  one  is  to  introduce  perforated 
bricks  into  the  wall  immediately  below 
the  ceiling;  the  area  of  aperture  being 
usually  one  square  inch  to  every  60  cubic 
feet  of  the  capacity  of  the  room.  To 


fit- 


104 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  X. 
FIG.  1.— Lockhead's  ventilator. 

FIGS.  2  and  3.— Perforated  zinc  ventilator,  adapted  to  a 
cornice ;  a  perforated  bricks  in  external  wall ; 
b  under  part  of  cornice  facing  the  room  ;  e  portion 
of  cornice  over  the  aperture  by  which  air  is  ad- 
mitted from  without;  d  cord  to  regulate  the 
admission  of  air  through ;  e  door  or  valve  ;  /per- 
forated zinc. 


105 

prevent  the  down  draught,  a  cornice  is 
arranged  to  cover  the  openings,  having  its 
upper  side  made  of  perforated  zinc. 
[Plate  X.,  Figs.  2  and  3.] 

A  simple  plan,  which  works  well  in 
schools,  is  as  follows :  A  perforated  zinc 
tube,  opened  to  the  external  air,  passes 
round  the  cornice  of  three  sides  of  the 
room ;  on  the  fourth  side,  another  perfor- 
ated tube  is  connected  with  the  chimney. 

Other  simple  contrivances  are  shown  in 
Plate  XI.,  Figs.  1  and  2. 

The  examples  which  have  been  given 
suffice  to  illustrate  the  principles  of  the 
plans  to  be  adopted  for  the  ingress  of  the 
ail*  required  for  ventilation,  which  may  be 
summed  up  as  follows  :  The  incoming  air 
should  be  pure,  and,  if  possible,  warmed ; 
if  not  warmed,  the  external  openings 
should  be  provided  with  means  of  closing 
them  in  very  cold  weather.  The  supply 
should  be  well  distributed  by  having* 
numerous  small  inlets  rather  than  few 
large  ones.  Draughts  should  be  avoided 
by  directing  the  current  upwards.  And, 
above  all,  the  supply  should  be  in  suff:- 


106 

cient  quantity  to  drive  out  and  replace 
the  vitiated  air,  otherwise  the  latter  will 
collect  at  the  top  of  the  room,  and  event- 
ually be  diffused  through  its  entire  space. 
Neglect  of  this  consideration  is  one  of  the 
Teasons  why  ventilation  is  inefficiently  car- 
lied  out  in  practice.  To  accomplish  its 
purpose,  the  inlet  should  be  at  least  one 
square  inch  for  every  60  cubic  feet 
capacity. 

I  have  now  to  direct  attention  to  the 
egress  of  the  contaminated  air.  The  size 
of  the  apertures  will  have  to  depend  upon 
the  temperature  and  height  of  the  column. 
If  the  height  of  a  heated  column  be  15 
feet,  and  a  difference  exists  of  10  degrees 
between  external  and  internal  tempera- 
ture, and  if  the  discharge  per  man  be 
2.000  cubic  feet  per  hour,  the  outlet  space 
per  man  must  be  24  square  inches,  nearly 
equivalent  to  an  opening  5  inches  square. 
There  must  be,  of  course,  an  equal 
amount  of  inlet,  so  that  the  inlet  and  out- 
let together  would  be  48  square  inches  per 
head.  This,  therefore,  would  be  the  total 
<  r>en  area  necessary  for  each  person,  in- 


107 

dependency  of  all  openings  by  windows 
and  doors.  To  calculate  the  total  size  of 
the  openings  for  any  room  destined  for 
healthy  persons,  multiply  48  by  the  num- 
ber of  persons,  and  the  result  will  be  the 
total  section  area  to  be  provided  in  square 
inches.  For  hospitals,  multiply  72  by  the 
number  of  persons.  The  outlet  is  more 
certain  and  constant  in  its  action,  if  the 
air  be  warmed — a  fact  exemplified  in  the 
chimney  and  open  fire,  which  carries  on 
the  removal  most  efficiently.  Illuminating 
gas  for  this  purpose  admits  of  extensive 
application.  A  good  and  simple  arrange- 
ment is  to  place  over  the  gas  jet  a  pipe, 
to  carry  off  the  products  of  combustion, 
and  to  case  this  pipe  in  a  tube  opening  on 
the  ceiling.  Two  outlet  currents  are  thus 
established,  one  over  the  gas,  and  one 
through  the  outer  tube.  Bickett's  ven- 
tilating globe  light  (in  reality  the  inven- 
tion of  Faraday)  is  on  this  principle,  its 
only  objection  being  its  expense.  A  some- 
what similar  contrivance,  "  the  sunlight  " 
method  of  illumination,  is  one  of  the  best 
modes  of  ventilation.  It  consists  in  burn- 


108 

ing  the  gas  under  an  opening  in  the 
ceiling,  the  opening  being  furnished  with 
a  pipe  for  removing  the  products  of  com- 
bustion, &c.  In  all  these,  and  like  ar- 
rangements, care  should  be  taken  that  the 
channel  for  the  escape  of  air  from  the  room 
be  of  sufficient  size,  and  that  it  inclines  at 
an  angle  towards  the  chimney,  otherwise 
the  water  of  combustion,  condensing 
within  it,  might  form  an  obstruction. 

Numerous  ventilating  valves,  or  com- 
binations of  tubes  of  various  kinds,  have 
been  proposed  to  aid  the  removal  of 
tainted  air.  The  one  best  known,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  simple  and  inexpensive, 
is  that  suggested  by  Dr.  Arnott.  It  con- 
sists in  making  an  opening  into  the  chim- 
ney, near  the  ceiling,  and  fixing  a  balanc- 
ing valve  in  it  in  such  a  manner  that 
the  valve  plate  is  opened  by  outward 
draughts,  but  closed  by  those  from  within. 
For  the  same  purpose,  the  plan  is  modified 
by  the  use  of  perforated  zinc  as  a  ven- 
tilator, and  the  action  of  Arnott's  valve  is 
imitated  by  a  valve  of  oiled  silk,  or  valves 
of  mica.  For  the  proper  working  of  these 


10;) 

ventilators,  the  throat  of  the  chimney, 
just  over  the  fire,  should  be  contracted,  and 
then  a  low  arch  should  be  fixed,  as  a  sort  of 
blower,  over  the  top  bar  of  the  grate,  to 
quicken  and  steady  the  draught.  It  is 
worse  than  useless  to  put  one  into  a  chim- 
ney where  the  fireplace  is  large  and  open. 
As  long  as  a  body  of  air,  filling  the  whole 
chimney,  passes  freely  through  it  from  the 
fitoplace,  none  will  pass  through  the  ven- 
ti  later,  and  smoke  may  find  its  way 
through  the  latter  into  the  room ;  but  if 
the  fireplace  is  contracted,  part  of  the  air 
will  go  over  the  fire,  and  part  will  flow 
steadily  through  the  valve. 

When  the  external  air  is  warm  and  free 
from  motion,  it  becomes  more  difficult  to 
to  secure  the  free  ventilation  of  rooms. 
Under  these  circumstances,  as  in  summer, 
the  only  natural  mode  of  ventilation  is 
through  open  windows,  and  there  can  be 
no  better  method,  unless  this  is  sup- 
plemented by  some  artificial  contriv- 
ance. 

Unnecessary  fear  prevails  generally  in 
relation  to  open  windows  ;  of  the  two,  it 


110 

is  certainly  better  to  breathe  air  moistened 
with  night-dew  than  air  laden  with  p  oi- 
sonous  vapors. 

The  chimney  is  supposed  to  produce  a 
current  outwards,  but  it  is  often  the  re- 
verse. A  draught  as  often  comes  into  as 
passes  out  of  the  room  through  this  aper- 
ture, a  defect  admitting  of  remedy  by 
keeping  a  small  gas  or  other  lamp  burn- 
ing in  the  grate ;  an  out-draught  is  thus 
established  without  increasing  the  tem- 
perature of  the  room.  A  contrivance  of 
the  Marquis  de  Chabannes  is  very  useful. 
About  the  height  of  the  mantelpiece,  an 
opening  is  made  into  the  chimney.  At 
the  mouth  of  it  is  placed  a  lamp,  partly 
enclosed  in  a  case  of  metal,  and  so  ar- 
ranged that  whilst  it  lights  the  apartment' 
it  at  the  same  time  effects  ventilation,  by 
setting  up  a  current  of  heated  air,  which 
passes  into  the  chimney.  This  mode  of 
ventilation  in  bed-rooms  and  in  the  sick 
room  is  excellent.  [Plate  XL,  Fig.  3.] 

We  see,  therefore,  that  in-doors  as  out- 
of-doors,  the  purifying  agencies  of  nature 
are  diffusion,  dilution,  oxidation ;  and 


112 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  XI. 

FIG.  1.— Vertical  section  of  a  contrivance  for  supplying 
air  at  the  top  of  a  window  independently  of  the 
sash ;  a  perforated  external  side ;  b  gauze  facing 
the  room ;  c  plate  to  regulate  admission  of  air ; 
d  window  sash  slightly  lowered  ;  e  cord  to  move  c. 

FIG.  2.— Ventilator  fixed  to  a  window  sash.  It  is  a 
narrow  box,  having  a  perforated  face  of  brass  and 
a  similar  back  of  zinc.  By  means  of  a  cord  and 
pulley  a  plate  is  made  to  move  over  the  perforated 
parts  and  regulate  the  admission  of  air. 

FIG.  3.— Section  of  the  chimney  and  lamp  of  the 
Marquis  de  Chambaunes. 


113 

those  who  wish,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
breathe  untainted  air,  should  introduce 
into  their  dwellings  as  liberal  a  supply  of 
fresh  ah*  as  can  be  endured  without  dis- 
comfort. 

DISINFECTANTS. 

In  addition  to  and  in  conjunction  with 
atmospheric  air,  there  are  a  certain  class 
of  agents  which  are  capable  of  destroying 
infectious  matter  when  brought  in  actual 
contact  with  it.  They  are  called  disinfect 
ants. 

In  the  broadest  sense,  a  disinfectant  is 
anything  which  counteracts  infectious,  con- 
tagious or  effete  matters.  They  may  be 
said  to  act  on  infectious  matter  in  one  of 
two  ways  :  either  by  a  process  of  oxida- 
tion, which  effects  the  decay  or  decompo> 
sition  of  organic  matter,  resolving  it  into, 
harmless  products.  These  are  disinfect- 
ants proper  ;  or  by  preventing  putrefac- 
tion and  fermentation,  or  any  change  from 
taking  place  in  the  original  composition 
of  the  organic  matter.  These  are  anti- 
septics or  colytics.  To  these  divisions 


114 

another  may  practically  be  added,  to 
which  the  term  fixative  has  been  applied ; 
one  or  more  of  the  constituents  of  these 
agents  combines  with  the  offensive  vola- 
tile products,  fixes  them,  and  prevents  the 
pollution  of  the  air  by  their  escape. 

We  will  consider  the  subject  briefly, 
with  respect  to  the  use  of  ordinary  dis- 
nfectants,  and  the  circumstances  under 
which  their  employment  is  specially  in- 
dicated. 

Chlorine  is  an  energetic  destroyer  of  all 
organic  substances  prone  to  decay,  and 
acts  on  sewer  gases  and  the  gases  of  putre- 
faction. It  is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
atmospheric  disinfectants  and  deodorizers, 
but  demands,  at  least  in  its  pure  state,  to 
be  used  cautiously,  on  account  of  the 
unpleasant  effects  produced  by  it  on  the 
organs  of  respiration.  For  use  it  may  be 
thus  prepared :  Place  equal  parts  of  com- 
mon salt  and  black  oxide  of  manganese 
in  a  basin,  pour  in  some  water,  and  then 
•  add  an  equal  quantity,  or  less,  of  oil  of 
vitriol,  and  the  gas  is  given  off.  The  ra- 
pidity of  the  evolution  of  gas  may  be 


115 

diminished  by  the  addition  of  water. 
There  are  many  cases  in  which  the  so- 
called  chloride  of  lime  may,  with  advan- 
tage, be  substituted,  especially  when  a 
solution  is  required,  in  the  proportion  of 
one  pound  to  a  gallon  of  water.  Its  un- 
pleasant, sickly  odor  can  be  overcome  by 
the  addition  of  a  small  quantity  of  nitro- 
benzole.  For  general  purposes,  if  there 
be  sufficient  chlorine  to  give  an  odor  of 
the  gas,  it  is  in  sufficient  quantity  to  dis- 
infect. Chlorine,  though  not  pure,  may 
be  evolved  by  the  addition  of  an  acid  to 
chloride  of  lime.  Mr.  Cond}^  has  sug- 
gested an  easy  means  of  chlorodizing. 
Into  a  cup,  placed  on  a  plate,  a  wine- 
glass-full of  Condy's  fluid  is  poured ;  on 
the  gradual  addition  of  a  small  portion  of 
muriatic  acid,  the  gas  is  given  off  until  t^e 
ingredients  are  exhausted. 

On  account  of  the  irrespirable  nature  of 
chlorine,  a  good  substitute  for  it  is  found 
in  iodine.  If  some  of  this  substance  be 
placed  in  saucers  in  different  parts  of  the 
room,  it  evaporates  spontaneously,  and 
the  characteristic  odor  is  soon  percept- 


116 

ible.  The  diffusion  may  be  accelerated 
by  the  application  of  slight  heat. 

Alkaline  manganates  and  permanganates 
have  been  introduced  by  Mr.  Condy,  under 
the  title  of  "  Condy 's  Fluid,"  red  and 
green.  As  disinfectants  they  are  invalua- 
ble, admitting  of  a  wide  range  of  applica- 
tion. It  is  needless  here  to  describe  either 
their  uses  or  mode  of  application,  as  full 
directions  are  given  with  the  preparations, 
which  are  essential  to  every  household. 

The  antiseptics,  or  colytics,  are  a  class 
which  have  the  power  of  preventing  or- 
ganic substances  from  undergoing  change. 
Disinfectants  proper  exercise  their  influ- 
ence upon  substances  or  products,  which 
are  the  results  of  changes  already  effected ; 
whilst  antiseptics  prevent  these  results, 
by  arresting  decay  and  decomposition. 
So  that  while  an  antiseptic  preserves 
from  putrefaction,  it  does  not  of  necessity 
remove  the  odor  of  that  matter  which  has 
previously  undergone  change. 

Heat  and  cold  are  natural  antiseptics. 
Extreme  cold  prevents  animal  poisons 
from  being  diffused  and  oxidized,  and 


117 

therefore  restrains  putrefaction.  The 
greater  number  of  animal  substances  may 
be  indefinitely  preserved  at  or  below  the 
freezing  point ;  but  with  an  elevation  of 
temperature,  the  liabilty  to  undergo 
change  or  decomposition  returns.  Ex- 
treme heat  destroys  the  structure  of 
poisons,  and  may,  in  a  general  manner, 
operate  beneficially  by  producing  expan- 
sion, and  consequent  dilution,  of  the 
noxious  material.  Yacciiie  virus  is  de- 
prived of  the  power  of  reproduction  by 
exposure  to  a  temperature  of  140°  for 
three  hours.  This  and  similar  facts  has 
led  some  English  practitioners  to  suggest 
the  adoption  of  a  method  for  the  disinfec- 
tion of  clothing  and  the  like,  which  con- 
sists in  exposing  them  to  a  temperature  of 
212°  to  214°  in  a  chamber  built  of  brick, 
the  floor  of  which  is  composed  of  perfo- 
rated iron  plate,  with  a  coil  of  iron,  pipe 
.  below,  which  acts  as  a  part  of  a  furnace 
flue,  radiating  heat  into  the  compartment. 
Experience  has  fully  established  the  suc- 
cess of  this  plan,  when  carried  out  with 
proper  care,  and  for  a  sufficiently  long 


118 

time.  In  the  absence  of  a  chamber,  an 
oven,  cautiously  heated,  may  be  employed, 
the  articles  being  kept  in  the  heated  air 
for  at  least  two  hours. 

The  fumes  of  burning  sulphur  (sul- 
phurous acid)  have  Very  powerful  anti- 
septic properties ;  they  are  effectual, 
economical,  of  considerable  permanence, 
and  can  be  readily  applied.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  nitrous  fumes.  The  chief 
objections  are  the  poisonous  and  irrespir- 
able  properties  of  the  gases,  which  render 
their  employment  impracticable,  except  in 
uninhabited  places. 

Carbolic  acid,  even  when  highly  diluted, 
is  most  destructive  to  all  the  lower  forms 
of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  and  arrests 
and  prevents  all  kinds  of  putrefactive 
changes ;  its  vapor  has  the  same  action, 
and  it  is  in  every  respect  a  true  antiseptic. 
The  Disinfectant  Powders  of  Caivert  and 
McDougall  (the  former  being  more  effica- 
cious, with  a  less  unpleasant  odor)  are 
compounds  of  the  sulphites  and  carbolic 
acid,  and  act  most  advantageously  when  a 
powder  is  demanded  for  the  disinfection 


119 

of  sewage,  masses  of  putresceut  matter, 
stables,  or  excreta.  They  influence  also 
the  surrounding  atmosphere,  and  have 
still  further  the  valuable  property  of 
absorbing  moisture,  thus  removing  a  con- 
dition most  favorable  for  putrefactive 
changes. 

The  use  of  fixatives,  such  as  the  sul- 
phate of  iron,  sulphate  of  zinc,  chloride 
of  iron,  chloride  of  zinc  (a  solution  of 
which  goes  by  the  name  of  Burnett's 
fluid),  copperas,  etc.,  is  indicated  when 
large  masses  of  putrefying  matter  have  to 
be  disinfected  for  a  time,  and  at  a  small 
cost.  The  chloride  of  aluminum,  or 
chloraluni,  is  one  of  this  class  lately 
introduced.  It  possesses  'several  advant- 
ages ;  it  is  not  poisonous  like  the  chloride 
of  zinc,  it  is  inodorous,  and  is  very  cheap.* 
It  is  much  used  for  the  prevention  of 
decomposition,  and  to  remove  the  foetor 
of  animal  discharges,  either  natural  or  the 
products  of  disease.  It  readily  deodor- 
izes sewage,  and  may  be  used  for  the  dis- 
infection of  rooms,  mixed  with  water,  as  a 
»  cleansing  material.  Not  being  volatile,  it 


120 

is  probably  inferior  to  some  other  agents 
as  an  aerial  disinfectant. 

PKACTICAL    DISINFECTION. 

In  practically  carrying  out  disinfection, 
it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  process  is 
not  a  simple  one,  but  depends  upon  vary- 
ing and  complex  chemical  and  physiolog- 
ical actions,  and  that  different  products 
and  different  circumstances  have  to  *  be 
dealt  with.  The  attempt,  therefore,  to 
obtain  a  disinfectant  of  universal  applica- 
tion, and  capable  of  fulfilling  every  indica- 
tion, must  be  attended  with  disappoint- 
ment. The  relative  power  of  the  substances 
which  have  been  mentioned,  in  preventing 
putrefaction,  may  be  taken  as  a  test  of 
their,  action  on  the  genus  of  infection.  Dr. 
Grace  Calvert  has  published  experiments, 
in  which  meat  was  suspended  over  the  var- 
ious substances,  with  the  following  results : 

Antiseptic  Became  Became 

used.  tainted.  putrid. 

Condy's  Fluid 2  days. ...     4  days 

Chloralum 2     "    10     " 

McDougall's  Powder.   12     "    19     " 

Chloride  of  Lime. ...   14     "    21     " 

Burnett's  Fluid 19     " 

Carbolic  Acid not  tainted,  dried  up. 


121 

In  dealing  with  sewer  gas  and  its  allies, 
the  atmosphere  of  the  room  has  specially 
to  be  dealt  with,  and  hence  a  diffusible 
disinfectant,  such  as  chlorine,  iodine,  or 
the  vapor  of  carbolic  acid,  should  be 
selected.  Assuming  that  the  spread  of 
infectious  diseases  depends  upon  the  con- 
tact of  disease  producing  particles,  and 
that  the  air  is  at  least  one  means  of  their 
transmission,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
whilst  chlorine  and  iodine  destroy  the 
products,  they  do  not  destroy  the  pro- 
ducer, and  that  carbolic  acid  performs  the 
latter,  but  not  the  former,  having,  there- 
fore, little  power  as  a  deodorizer,  but 
operating  on  the  essential  cause.  The 
air  may  be  carbolized  by  suspending  in 
the  room  clothes  dipped  in  a  solution  of 
one  part  of  the  acid  to  eighty  parts  of 
water,  sprinkling  the  floor  with  it,  or  by 
a  spray  instrument.  [Plate  XII.,  Fig.  1.] 

The  vaporizer  is  an  excellent  method  of 
carbolic  acid  diffusion.  This  instrument 
consists  essentially  of  a  metallic  plate, 
heated  by  a  spirit  lamp,  or  other  means, 
over  which  is  suspended  a  glass  vessel 


containing  liquid  carbolic  acid,  which  falls 
regularly  through  a  dropping  tube  on  the 
heated  plate,  drop  by  drop,  and  is  dissi- 
pated in  vapor.6  Lee's  lamp  is  also 
an  excellent  fumigator.  Plate  XII.,  Fig.  2. 

The  method  of  using  chlorine  and  iodine 
has  been  described. 

If  recourse  is  had  to  the  fixative  disin- 
fectants, Burnett's  Fluid.  &c.,  a  consider- 
able surface  of  the  liquid  should  be  expos- 
ed, and  this  is  best  effected  by  keeping  sus- 
pended clothes  continually  wetted  with 
the  liquid.  To  fulfill  the  same  object, 
Girondin's  Fluid  (solution  of  sulph.  of 
zinc,  acetate  of  copper  and  baryta)  may 
be  atomized  by  means  of  the  ^pray.  A 
plan  suggested  by  Mr.  Condy  is  to  add  a 
wineglass-full  of  his  red  fluid  to  a  quart 
of  water,  mix  thoroughly  with  a  teaspoon- 
ful  of  oil  of  vitriol,  and  then  drive  air 
through  the  mixture  with  a  pair  of  bel- 
lows or  other  special  contrivance. 

Empty  rooms,  uninhabited  places,  or 
rooms  where  there  has  been  an  infectious 
disease,  may.  be  most  efficiently  disin- 
fected in  the  following  manner :  Denude 


123 


FIG.  2. 


124 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  XII. 
Fig.  1.— Richardson's  spray  producer. 

Fig.  2.— Lee's  lamp,  slightly  modified.  It  consists  of  a 
stand  for  a  metallic  saucer  around  which  is  a  place 
for  water,  and  underneath  a  lamp.  On  the  saucer 
the  fumigating  substance  is  placed ;  the  heat  of 
the  lamp  produces  the  desired  fumes  and  vapor  of 
water  to  temper  the  same  if  required. 


125 

the  room  of  all  its  furniture,  which  should 
be  washed  with  strong  chloralum  solution 
(2J  ozs.  to  a  gallon  of  water).  Wash  the 
floor  and  woodwork  with  soap  and  diluted 
carbolic  acid  (1  part  Calvert's  No.  5  to 
60  of  water),  or  with  carbolic  soap.  Re- 
move the  paper,  after  having  treated  it  in 
a  similar  manner  with  either  of  the 
liquids,  for  the  protection  of  the  work- 
men. Close  up  all  openings,  and  having 
generated  sulphur,  or  nitrous  fumes,  leave 
the  room,  and  shut  the  door.  Keep  the 
apartment  closed  for  24  hours  ;  then  open 
the  windows  and  doors,  and  in  a  few  days 
the  kalsomining  and  papering  may  be 
commenced.  The  sulphur  fumes  may  be 
generated  by  burning  that  substance  in  a 
pan,  containing  a  few  hot  coals  in  the  pro- 
portion of  4  oz.  to  every  100  cubic  feet 
capacity  of  the  room. 

Bedding,  clothing,  &c.,  are  best  disin- 
fected by  dry  heat  at  or  about  220°.  If 
this  be  not  practicable,  before  removal 
they  should  be  plunged  into  a  disinfecting 
solution,  of  no  great  strength,  for  fear  of 
bleaching  or  staining  in  the  case  of  the 


126 

chlorides  and  Condy's  Fluid,  and  then  be 
subjected  to  careful  washing.  Carbolic 
acid  may  be  used  for  this  purpose,  by 
placing  some  heated  bricks  at  the  bottom 
of  a  box,  and  sprinkling  the  acid  over 
them ;  the  materials  are  then  introduced 
layer  by  layer,  and  tlje  box  firmly  closed. 

For  the  disinfection  of  drains,  sewers, 
closets,  &c.,  carbolic  acid  (1  Ib.  of  Cal- 
vert's  No.  5  to  the  10  gallons  of  water), 
chloralum,  charcoal,  &c.,  are  suitable.  To 
remove  the  odor  and  danger  of  alviiie  dis- 
charges, Condy's  Fluid  (a  teaspoonful  to 
a  wineglassful  of  water),  sulphate  of  iron, 
or  sulphate  of  zinc  (1  to  10  water),  Cal- 
vert's  or  McDougall's  Powders,  chloralum, 
Burnett's  Fluid,  &c.,  may  be  used  with 
advantage. 

Heaps  of  manure,  and  other  filth  which  it 
may  at  the  time  be  impracticable  to  remove, 
or  earth  near  dwellings,  which,  by  the  soak- 
ing of  sewage  or  vegetable  matter,  has 
become  offensive,  should  be  well  watered 
with  one  of  the  preceding  solutions,  or 
covered  with  2  or  3  inches  of  freshly- 
burnt  vegetable  charcoal  in  powder. 


127 

On  all  occasions,  in.  the  use  of  disin- 
fectants, care  must  be  taken  that  they  are 
not  incompatible,  so  as  to  neutralize  each 
other.  Condy's  fluid,  carbolic  acid,  and 
chlorine  have  all  been  used  at  the  same 
time,  and  the  only  result  has  been  the 
destruction  of  the  influence  of  each. 

Disinfectants  properly  and  judiciously 
applied  admit  of  extensive  use  in  prevent- 
ive medicine ;  their  advantages,  never- 
theless, are  not  to  be  overrated. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  cleanliness 
by  removal  of  the  cause  of  infection,  ven- 
tilation, isolation  and  drainage  are  the 
proper  means  of  protecting  the  dwelling  ; 
and  that  artificial  deodorizers  can  no  more 
serve  in  their  stead  than  in  regard  to  in- 
dividuals, perfumes  could  serve  instead  of 
soap  and  water. 

As  long  as  carbolic  acid  and  iodine  and 
the  other  chemicals  are  applied,  as  such,7 
to  definite  spaces  and  definite  quantities  ; 
a  heap  of  decomposing  organic  matter  to 
be  neutralized,  the  contaminated  air  of  a 
closet  or  room  to  be  oxodized,  they  are 
invaluable  adjuvants  at  our  command. 


128 

But  if  they  are  to  be  the  cause  of  banish- 
ment of  the  natural  methods  of  purifica- 
tion, if  they  are  to  be  held  as  magic  means 
of  turning,  by  a  little  powdering  and 
sprinkling,  infected  houses  into  healthful 
dwellings,  they  are  ten  times  worse  than 
useless  by  leading  to  a  confidence  that 
the  experience  of  their  use  does  not 
justify,  and  I  would  end  by  noting  a 
special  warning  against  such  perversion 
and  abuse. 

GARBAGE    GASES. 

There  are  houses,  there  are  groups  of 
houses,  there  are  considerable  sections  of 
towns,  there  are  even  entire  and  not  small 
towns,  where  general  slovenliness  in  every- 
thing which  relates  to  the  removal  of 
refuse  matter  is  the  local  habit.  Streets 
and  districts  where  within,  or  just  outside 
each  house,  or  may  be  in  spaces  common 
to  many  houses,  lies  for  an  indefinite 
period  of  time,  undergoing  fetid  decom- 
position, more  or  less  of  the  putrefiable 
refuse  which  house-life  and  trade-life  pro- 
duce. K  itcheii  refuse,  garbage  of  all 


129 

PLATE   X'll. 
FIG.  1. 


FIG.  2. 


130 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATE  XIII. 

FIG.  1.— Sediment  of  water  from  well,  corner  Nassau 
and  Pearl  streets,  Brooklyn ;  from  a  slide  in  pos- 
session of  Dr.  H.  M.  Lewis.  Note  the  low  type  of 
organisms  denoting  the  presence  of  organic  mat- 
ter. 

FIG.  2.— Sediment  of  Ridgewood  water ;  from  slide  in 
possession  of  Dr.  Lewis.  Note  the  high  and  unin 
jurious  type  of  organisms. 


131 

sorts,  and  stagnant  slop-waters,  lying 
bare  on  the  common  surface ;  or,  perhaps, 
unintentionally  stored  out  of  sight  and 
recollection  in  nooks  and  corners  and 
receptacles  of  all  sorts. 

To  a  lesser  degree  this  deplorable  con- 
dition of  things  prevails  in  the  cleanest 
and  best  regulated  houses,  sometimes 
from  an  improper  understanding  of  the 
deleterious  effects  of  the  accumulation  of 
vegetable  and  animal  table  and  kitchen 
refuse,  others  from  criminal  neglect  on 
the  part  of  the  proper  authorities,  who  ill 
perform  or  do  not  perform  at.  all  the  duty 
of  removing  garbage  from  private  dwell- 
ings. 

With  this. state  of  things  be  it  on  a  large 
or  on  a  small  scale,  two  chief  sorts  of  danger 
to  our  dwellings  arise.  One,  that  volatile 
effluvia,  precisely  of  the  same  nature  as 
the  pestilential  gases  from  sewers,  and 
more  deadly  than  these,  because  they  are 
more  at  hand,  arise  from  the  swill-pail  or 
garbage  heaps,  polluting  the  surrounding 
air  and  everything  which  it  contains,  not- 
ably the  house  provisions,  food  and 


132 

beverages,  which  are  probably  stored  in 
the  immediate  vicinity. 

The  other,  that  the  liquid  parts  of  the 
refuse  pass  by  soakage  or  leakage  into  the 
house  floor  and  the  surrounding  soil,  to 
mingle  there  with  whatever  water  the  soil 
yields,  and  in  one  case  or  the  other  to  oc- 
casion the  deadliest  pollution  of  air  and 
of  wells  and  springs. 

Dangers  of  these  two  sorts  are  prevail- 
ing to  a  really  immense  extent  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  our  cities  and 
villages,  not  only  in  their  slighter  degrees, 
but  in  degrees  which  are  gross  and 
scandalous.  And  when,  we  consider  that 
filth  does  not  only  infect  where  it  stands, 
but  can  transmit  its  deadly  powers  of 
infection  afar  and  wide  by  certain  appro- 
priate channels  of  conveyance  —  that,  for 
instance,  houses  which  have  untrapped 
drainage  communication  with  sewers  may 
receive  through  such  communication  the 
deadly  infection  from  the  refuse  rotting 
within  their  neighbor's,  or  even  a  distant 
house  ;  it  stands  to  reason  that  the  proper 
disposal  of  kitchen  and  table  refuse  is  as 


133 

paramount  to  the  protection  of  our  dwell- 
ings as  the  removal  of  excreta  and  sew- 
age. 

DISPOSAL  OF  GARBAGE. 

The  average  amount  of  kitchen  and 
table  refuse  of  the  kind  usually  called 
swill  is  about  half  a  pound  per  capita  per 
diem,  or  one  ton  daily  for  every  four 
thousand  inhabitants. 

The  desire  to  utilize  this  large  amount 
of  available  food  has  led  to  the  system  of 
removal,  which  in  the  majority  of  our 
cities  is  a  gross  insult  to  sanitary 
civilization.  Filth- wreaking  wagons  laden 
with  dilapidated  and  uncovered  casks, 
overflowing  their  nauseous  contents, 
drawn  by  phthisic  horses,  attended  by 
men  and  boys,  whose  revolting  appear-* 
ance  defies  description,  may  be  seen  at 
all  hours  iii  the  hottest  days  of  summer  as 
in  the  coldest  days  of  winter,  halting  at 
every  door,  spreading  pestilence  and 
scattering  filth  through  the  poorest  streets 
as  well  as  through  the  most  fashionable 
avenues. 


134 

In  some  cities  this  system  of  removal 
is  performed  under  the  supervision  of  the 
authorities  themselves,  in  others  it  is  let 
out  to  contractors. 

The  least  objectionable  of  all  these  plans 
is  the  one  carried  out  in  the  city  of 
Boston,  which  claims,  with  no  lack  of  rea- 
son, to  be,  at  least  in  this  respect,  the 
cleanest  city  in  the  Union/ 

The  plan  of  collecting  the  garbage  and 
sewage  of  the  city  is  substantially  as  fol- 
lows :  There  are  three  stations  or  swill 
yards,  from  which  the  collectors  of  gar- 
bage issue  forth  to  their  labors  daily, 
Sundays  excepted.  The  south  city 
yard,  which  is  the  largest  station,  col- 
lects for  Boston  proper,  South  Boston, 
Dorchester,  Matapan  and  Neponset. 
Every  driver  is  expected  to  collect  a  cer- 
tain quantity  of  offal  daily,  and  for  each 
load  he  receives  a  ticket  from  the  fore- 
man, which  he  takes  to  the  office  and 
leaves.  It  is  there  entered  to  his  account, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  week  is  returned 
to  the  Superintendent  of  Health.  If  it  is 
found  at  the  end  of  each  day  or  week  that 


135 

a  driver  has  not  collected  the  number  of 
loads  expected  of  him  and  returned  the 
tickets  therefor,  an  inquiry  is  immediately 
made  as  to  the  reasons,  and  if  it  is  dis- 
covered that  he  and  his  helpers  have  been 
neglecting  work  a  change  is  effected  as 
soon  as  possible.  Extra  men  are  always 
kept  on  hand  at  the  yard  for  the  purpose 
of  filling  vacancies  which  may  occur 
through  death,  sickness,  or  discharge. 

Garbage  is  collected  in  watertight  carts 
from  dwelling  houses  at  least  three  times 
a  week  during  the  summer  and  twice  a 
week  in  the  winter,  and  from  markets, 
hospitals,  hotels  and  restaurants,  daily. 
This  is  conveyed  to  the  Swill  house,  where 
the  cart  is  left  on  a  platform  without  being 
unloaded.  Here  the  driver  has  his  load 
measured  and  receives  a  receipt,  which  is  * 
a  small  ticket  with  the  quantity  of  offal 
delivered  printed  on  it.  Each  wagon  will 
hold  a  cord  of  offal.  These  checks  are 
delivered  by  the  drivers  at  the  office,  and 
show  how  much  each  has  clone  during  the 
day.  The  offal  remains  in  the  swill  yard 
until  sold  to  farmers,  who  generally  pur- 


136 

chase  it  for  pigs  and  as  a  fertilizer.  They 
pay  for  it  $3.60  a  cord  of  128  cubic  feet 
at  the  South  City  yard.  At  the  Highland 
yard  they  pay  $5,  and  at  the  Charlestown 
yard  $6  per  yard.  The  farmers'  wagons 
are  required  to  be  watertight.  Before 
purchasers  can  get  offal  they  must  go  to 
the  office  and  get  an  order  for  the  number 
of  feet  they  wish  to  buy.  The  city  has 
only  had  charge  of  this  department  of  the 
city  health  since  1876.  Previous  to  that 
date  the  city  let  it  out  by  contract  to  pri- 
vate individuals,  who  paid  a  certain  sum 
for  the  privilege.  These  individuals  then 
sold  it  for  whatever  price  they  could 
obtain. 

It  requires  but  little  thought  to  under- 
stand that  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to 
handle,  transport,  and  dispose  of  this  large 
amount  of  putrenable,  in  many  instances 
already  putrefied,  material  in  the  loose  and 
irresponsible  way  in  which  it  is  done, 
without  creating  the  very  nuisance  which 
its  removal  is  intended  to  remedy  and 
avoid.  And  that  even  in  Boston,  where 
there  is  a  little  more  system  and  a  great 


137 

deal  more  surveillance  exercised,  there  is 
abundant  ground  for  desiring  the  adop- 
tion of  a  plan  that  shall  finally  dispose  of 
the  kitchen  and  table  refuse  before  it  has 
time  to  injure  the  health  or  offend  the 
senses  of  smell  and  sight,  even  at  the 
sacrifice  of  the  nutriment  it  may  con- 
tain. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  proper  knowl- 
edge on  the  part  of  individuals  of  the 
qualities  and  properties  of  foods,  a  knowl- 
edge which,  in  my  mind,  is  of  more  worth 
than  the  knowledge  of  grammar  or  history, 
would  diminish  to  about  one -fourth  the 
amount  of  kitchen  and  table  refuse  now 
wasted,  but  even  then  there  would  always 
be  a  certain  quantity  of  putr enable  matter 
to  be  disposed  of,  and  it  is  obvious  that 
whatever  method  accomplishes  this  in  the 
quickest,  cleanest,  and  least  objectionable 
manner  must  be  the  best. 

All  this  considered,  then,  the  cremation 
of  garbage  is  the  most  convenient  and 
least  objectionable  method  for  its  dis- 
posal. 

That  it   is  the   most  convenient  is  evi- 


138 

dent  from  the  fact  that  it  can  be  accom- 
plished within  the  premises  at  once, 
without  any  loss  of  time,  before  it  can 
produce  the  least  harm. 

That  it  is  the  least  objectionable  is  also 
apparent.  In  fact,  the  only  trifling  ob- 
jections are  two  in  number,  and  can  be 
overcome  in  a  very  simple  manner. 

One  is  that  certain  animal  substances 
emit  when  burning  an  unpleasant  odor. 

The  other,  that  some  vegetable  sub- 
stances do  not  bum  easily,  and  take  a  long 
time  to  be  consumed. 

Tn  the  first  place,  we  must  admit  that 
some  of  the  most  palatable  and  whole- 
some articles  of  food  emit  an  unpleasant 
odor  while  cooking,  yet  habit,  on  the  one 
hand,  causes  us  to  overlook  the  fact,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  are  willing  to 
suffer  this  slight  inconvenience  for  the 
sake  of  their  enjoyment.  We  might  do 
the  same  with  the  unpleasant  odors  of 
burning  garbage,  were  these  odors  una- 
voidable. But  they  are  avoidable,  as  we 
will  see  further  on. 

As    for   the   dimcultv   encountered   in 


139 

burning  vegetable  substances,  it  is  only 
apparent,  a  little  thought  and  method  soon 
obviates  the  difficulty. 

The  importance,  in  a  sanitary  point  of 
view,  of  obliterating  every  vestige  of 
disease-breeding  elements  is  sufficient  to 
demand  that  as  much  care  and  attention 
should  be  devoted  to  the  cremation  of 
garbage  as  is  usually  bestowed  on  the 
preparation  of  a  meaL  The  best  method 
is  the  following : 

A  tin  receptacle  of  sufficient  size  with 
perforated  cover  should  be  kept  on  the 
back  part  of  the  range,  where  sufficient 
heat  to  slowly  dry  its  contents  shall  reach 
it  Into  this  receptacle  all  vegetable  re- 
fuse should  be  thrown  as  soon  as  it  is 
produced,  not  neglecting  the  coffee- 
grounds  and  tea  leaves  which  will  deoj 
dorize  the  slight  vapor  which  might  in- 
visibly arise.  Thus  dried,  all  vegetables 
will  burn  briskly  when  the  time  shall 
come  to  throw  them  into  the  fire. 

The  animal  refuse  must  be  placed  in 
another  receptacle  until  the  burning  time 
arrives,  when  both  should  be  thoroughly- 


140 

mixed  and  thrown  into  a  blazing  fire, 
after  which  all  outlets  should  be  closed 
and  the  drafts  opened  until  the  mass  is 
consumed.  It  will  only  take  a  few 
minutes,  and  if  these  directions  are  fol- 
lowed there  will  be  no  odor,  though  you 
burn  feathers.  The  coffee-grounds  will 
completely  neutralize  any  smoke,  which 
might  ooze  through  the  joints  of  the 
range  in  case  the  draft  were  not  powerful 
enough  to  carry  it  up  the  chimney,  while 
the  mixture  of  dry  vegetable  and  greasy 
animal  substances  will  catch  the  blaze  and 
burn  almost  without  residue. 

There  are  several  garbage  burners  in 
market,  but  there  is  no  need  of  any 
special  apparatus.  With  what  exists  in 
every  kitchen,  a  little  method  and  a  con- 
scientious regard  for  our  own  safety  and 
that  of  our  neighbors  is  all  that  is  neces- 
sary. 


NOTES  TO    PART  II. 


NOTE  1. 

No  better  proof  can  be  adduced  of  the  condition  of 
the  subsoil  of  large  cities  however  well  sewered  than 
the  impure  nature  of  the  water  of  the  numerous  wells 
in  the  City  of  Brooklyn,  a  specimen  of  which  is  shown 
in  Plate  XIII,  together  with  a  specimen  of  the  sedi- 
ment of  Ridgewood  water  for  comparison. 

NOTE  2. 

In  the  Report  of  the  Brooklyn  Board  of  Health  for 
1875  and  1876  the  following  passages  by  Colonel  Adams 
are  worthy  of  notice  as  being  applicable  to  all  Ameri- 
can cities  similarly  located. 

"It  will  be  perceived  that  the  Commissioners 
charged  with  the  sewering  of  the  city,  in  view  of  the 
paucity  of  knowledge  to  be  derived  from  the  experi- 
ence of  that  day,  in  extended  operations  of  city 
sewerage,  performed  that  part  of  their  duty  with 
enlightened  judgment.  The  experience  of  the  twenty 
years  that  have  since  elapsed,  points  to  no  improve- 
ment on  this  general  plan  for  the  sewering  of  cities 
situated  on  tide  water.  But  a  grave  question  has 
arisen  as  to  how  far  they  understood  the  importance 
of  draining  the  city— their  only  provision  in  this  re- 
spect being  for  the  surface  water,  without  any  refer- 
ence whatever  to  the  subsoil  draining." 

And  further  on  in  the  same  report,  and  by  the  same 
authority : 


142 

*'  In  view  of  what  has  been  stated,  no  attempt  was 
made  by  the  Commissioners  to  drain  the  subsoil  of 
the  upland,  as  a  sanitary  measure  ;  yet,  in  reality,  in 
some  districts  that  were  troubled  with  wet  cellars 
before  the  construction  of  the  sewers,  the  result  of 
the  sewering  has  been  a  visible  improvement  in 
respect  to  underground  drainage.  This  could  not 
have  occurred  from  its  having  been  led  through  the 
sewers  themselves,  for  every  precaution  was  taken  to 
render  these  impermeable;  but  cutting  the  trenches 
in  which  the  sewers  were  laid  has  opened  some 
facilities  for  drawing  off  the  underground  water.  In 
the  sewer  trench  on  Marcy  avenue,  the  spring  water 
was  excessive,  requiring  steam  pumps  of  large  capa- 
city to  keep  it  down  sufficiently  to  enable  the  work 
to  progress;  but  the  grillage  of  timber  upon  which 
the  sewer  (72  inches  in  diameter)  rests  was  suffi- 
ciently open  to  permit  the  water  to  take  its  course 
to  tide.  Were  there  but  a  single  line  of  sewers, 
probably  but  little  in  this  direction  would  have  been 
effected ;  but  as  each  street  has  furnished  some 
means  for  the  escape  of  subsoil  water  through  the 
sewer  trench  at  a  depth  of  12  feet  below  the  surface, 
the  aggregate  of  them  all,  I  doubt  not,  has  effected  a 
fair  drainage  of  the  subsoil.  Whether  these  small 
vacuities  in  the  foundations  of  the  sewers  will  con- 
tinue their  office  of  land  drains  permanently,  remains 
to  be  seen." 

NOTE  3. 

Mr.  Tobias  New,  of  New  York,  has  devised  a 
method  of  isolation,  which  he  has  very  appropriately 
named  the  Sanitary  Cellar.  The  method  is  described 
by  him  in  the  following  words  : 

"The  Sanitary  Cellar  is  constructed  with  a  water 
and  air-tight  lining  of  alternate  layers  of  felt  (satur- 
ated in  bitumen)  and  asphaltic  cement,  which  is  pro- 
tected by  artificial  stone  and  other  materials  that  are 


143 

practically  indestructible ;  they  are  elastic,  and  a 
slight  displacement  of  the  foundation  will  not  cause  a 
leak,  neither  will  they  rot  out  like  timber  or  oakum  ; 
the  water-tight  materials  have  not  a  nail  or  bolt  pass- 
ing through  them,  and  form  one  complete,  impervious 
lining  to  the  cellar." 

NOTE  4. 

Mr.  Condy  has  suggested  an  easy  method  for  the 
detection  of  an  impure  condition  of  the  atmosphere, 
based  upon  the  fact  that  his  red  fluid  (solution  of 
permanganate  of  potash)  is  decolorized  by  contact 
with  organic  matter.  "Place,"  he  says,  "in  a  line 
four  or  more  perfectly  clean  dishes  of  white  ware. 
Into  each  pour  an  ounce  of  distilled  water.  To  the 
first  add  a  drop  of  Condy's  Fluid,  diluted  previously 
with  two  parts  of  water ;  to  the  second  add  two 
drops,  and  so  on  according  to  the  number  of  vessels. 
Let  the  dishes  so  prepared  stand  for  a  time  in  a  quiet 
part  of  the  room.  On  examining  them  at  the  end  of 
the  period,  the  state  of  the  atmosphere  can  be  judged 
of.  If  the  solution  in  No.  1  has  not  entirely  lost  its 
pink  color,  the  purity  of  the  air  is  normal ;  should 
No.  2  be  decolorized,  the  air  is  loaded  with  twice  the 
normal  amount  of  impurity,  and  so  the  loss  of  color 
in  the  others  will  demonstrate  degrees  of  impurity 
verging  more  or  less  on  to  positive  pollution.  This 
plan  is  not  admissable  for  scientific  purposes,  but 
sufficiently  accurate  for  ordinary  sanitary  objects." 

For  more  accurate  means  of  detecting  impurities,  in 
the  atmosphere,  see  works  of  Dr.  Angus  Smith  and 
Prof.  Pettenkofer.  Also  Note  8. 

'  NOTE  5. 

The  experiments  of  Lariboisiere  prove  that  to  insure 
the  renewal  of  the  air  in  a  sick  ward  a  supply  of  at 
least  4,000  cubic  feet  per  head  is  needed  hourly. 


144 

NOTE  6. 

Dr.  Hoskin  describes,  in  the  Boston  Medical  and 
Surgical  Journal,  a  simple  apparatus  for  vaporizing. 
It  consists  of  a  bottle,  a  wick  and  a  bulb  of  platinum 
sponge,  attached  to  the  free  end  of  the  wick.  An 
alcoholic  solution  of  the  substance  to  be  vaporized  is 
placed  in  the  bottle,  the  wick  is  then  lighted,  and  as 
soon  as  the  ball  of  platinum  becomes  red  hot,  which 
occurs  in  two  or  three  minutes,  the  flame  is  extin- 
guished. The  ball  continues  to  be  fed  by  the  wick, 
and  remains  at  a  red  heat  as  long  as  there  is  fluid  to 
be  vaporized  in  the  bottle. 

NOTE  7. 

We  append,  for  ready  reference,  a  list  of  the  best 
known  disinfectants. 

Solids.  Charcoal,  animal  and  vegetable— Dried  earth 
—Calcium  and  magnesium  carbolates- Quicklime. 

Liquids.  Burnett's  fluid— Condy's  fluid— Girondin's 
fluid— Labarraque's  solution— Ledoyen's  fluid— Vine- 
gar—Terebene. 

Gaseous.  Chlorine— Iodine— Bromine— Nitrous,  Sul- 
phurous, Hydrochloric  and  Acetic  acid— Ammonia- 
Tar  fumes— Tar  acids,  Carbolic,  Cresylic,  Creosote. 

NOTE  8. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  British  Medical  Association  at 
Cambridge,  1880,  Mr.  Jabez  Hogg,  in  the  section  of 
Public  Medicine,  exhibited  and  described  a  perfectly 
new  and  very  ingenious  instrument  for  detecting 
sewer  gas.  The  form  of  the  instrument  is  that  of  the 
aneroid  barometer,  the  rigid  brass  back  being  re- 
moved, and  is  replaced  by  a  piece  of  porous  tile,  of 
the  ordinary  Wedgewood  biscuit  ware.  This,  together 
with  some  changes  in  the  mechanical  arrangement  of 
the  instrument,  appears  to  be  all  that  is  necessary - 
When  a  detector,  so  constructed,  is  brought  into  an 


145 

atmosphere  charged  with  fire  damp,  sewer  gas,  or 
other  kind  of  gas,  the  gaseous  atoms  instantly  diffuse 
into  the  inner  closed-up  chamber  with  much  greater 
rapidity  than  the  atmospheric  air  passes  out.  This 
causes  pressure  to  be  made  upon  a  spring  in  connec. 
tion  with  an  index  hand,  when  it  is  seen  to^nove  over 
the  graduated  dial  face.  In  the  case  of  its  being 
brought  into  an  atmosphere  charged  with  a  heavier 
gas  than  common  air,  as  choke  damp,  or  carbonic  acid 
gas,  diffusion  causes  the  vacuum  chamber  to  expand, 
and  then  the  hand  drops  or  moves  in  the  reverse  direc- 
tion. To  restore  the  equilibrium  of  the  instrument  it 
is  necessary  to  turn  a  small  stop-cock  at  the  side  of 
the  instrument,  which  lets  in  the  atmospheric  air,  and 
immediately  brings  the  index  hand  back  to  zero.  The 
dial  face  is  graduated  to  a  scale,  and  correctly  marks 
the  non-explosive,  the  explore,  and  the  very  explosive 
nature  of  the  mixed  gases.  The  nature  of  the  gas 
escaping  from  a  sewer,  or  a  leakage  of  gas  of  any  other 
kind,  is  as  exactly  indicated.  This  gas  detector  is 
found  equally  serviceable  for  the  detection  of  gaseous 
exhalations  of  all  kinds,  whether  they  be  light  or  heavy. 
It  will  be  found  as  serviceable  and  useful  in  mines, 
and  in  subterranean  works  of  other  kinds.  In  the 
sinking  of  wells,  in  breweries,  in  street  subways,  in 
holds  of  ships,  where  dangerous  gas  accumulations 
often  take  place,  in  escape  of  gas  in  houses,  in  public 
buildings,  in  testing  street  gas  pipes,  and  in  tracing  an 
escape  of  sewer  gas.  The  instrument  is  so  little  likely 
to  be  deranged  in  action,  and  so  simple  in  its  applica- 
tion, that  it  may  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  those  quite 
unacquainted  with  the  use  of  a  scientific  instrument, 
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the  sanitary  inquirer,  or  the  inspector  of  nuisances, 
the  result  will  be  equally  happy. 


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HASKINS  (C.  H.).  The  Galvanometer  and  its  Uses. 
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HOLMES  (A.  BROMLEY).  The  Electric  Light  Pop- 
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JANNETTAZ  (EDWARD).  A  Guide  to  the  Deter- 
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LOCKE  (ALFRED  G.,  and  CHARLES  G.)  A  Prac- 
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LODGE  (OLIVER  J.).  Elementary  Mechanics, 
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LUNGE  (GEO.).  A  Theoretical  and  Practical  Treatise 
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LUNGE.  (GEO.),  and  HURTER,  F.  The  Alkali 
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MAGUIRE  (WM.  R.).  Domestic  Sanitary  Drainage 
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MARKS  (EDWARD  C.  R.).  Mechanical  Engineering 
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MAYER  (Prof.  A.  M.).    Lecture  Notes  on  Physics. 

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MERRILL,  (Col.  WM.  E.,  U.  S.  A.).  Iron  Truss 
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METAL  TURNING.  By  a  Foreman  Pattern  Maker. 
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MOREING  (C.  A.),  and  NEAL  (THOMAS).  Te'e- 
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MORRIS  (E.).  Easy  Rules  for  the  Measurement  of 
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MOSES  (ALFRED  J.),  and  PARSONS,  C.  L.  Ele- 
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MOSES  (ALFRED  J.).  The  Characters  of  Crystals. 
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MOE!LL,ER  (F.  C.  G.)«  Krupp's  Steel  Works.  With 
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MUIXIN  (JOSEPH  P.,  M.  E.).  Modern  Moulding 
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day use  in  the  Drawing  Office,  Pattern-Shop  and 
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MUNRO  (JOHN  C.  E.),  and  JAMIESON 
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Engineers.  Thirteenth  edition,  revised  and  enlarged. 
With  numerous  diagrams.  Pocket  size.  Leather..  2  50 

MURPHY  (J.  G.,  M.  E.).  Practical  Mining.  A 
Field  Manual  for  Mining  Engineers.  With  Hints  for 
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NAQUET  (A.).  Legal  Chemistry.  A  Guide  to  the 
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Chandler,  Ph.  D.,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.  12mo,  cloth 2  00 

NASMITH  (JOSEPH).  The  Student's  Cotton  Spin- 
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NEWAIX  (JOHN  W.).  Plain  Practical  Directions 
for  Drawing,  Sizing  and  Cutting  Bevel-Gears,  show- 
ing how  the  Teeth  may  be  cut  in  a  Plain  Milling 
31achine  or  Gear  Cutter  so  as  to  give  them  a  correct 
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Reference.  Folding  plates.  8vo,  clo  h. 1  50 


SCIENTIFIC    PUBLICATIONS.  25 

NEWCOMB  (EDWARD  W.).  Stepping  Stones  to 
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SEXTON  (A.  HUMBOLDT).  Fuel  and  Refractory 
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34  D.    VAN    NOSTRAND    COMPANY'S 

SMITH  (ISAAC  W.,  C.  E.).  The  Theory  of  Deflec- 
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..THE.. 

VAN    NOSTRAND 

SCIENCE  SERIES 

1 6 mo.  Boards.    Price  50  Cents  Each. 

Amply   Illustrated  when  the  Subject   Demands. 

No.  1.— CHIMNEYS  FOR  FURNACES  AND  STEAM: 
BOILERS.  By  R.  Armstrong,  C.  E.  Third 
American  edition.  Revised  and  partly  rewritten^ 
with  an  Appendix  on  Theory  of  Chimney  Draught, 
by  F.  E.  Idell,  M.  E. 

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Colburn.  New  edition,  revised  by  Prof.  R.  H, 
Thurston. 

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edition,  with  appendix. 

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Butler.  Second  edition,  re-edited  and  enlarged  by 
James  L.  Greenleaf ,  C.  E. 

No.  6.— ON  THE  DESIGNING  AND  CONSTRUCTION 
OF  STORAGE  RESERVOIRS.  By  Arthur 
Jacob,  A.  B.  Second  edition,  revised,  with  addi- 
tions by  E.  Sherman  Gould.  t 

No.  7.— SURCHARGED  AND  DIFFERENT  FORMS- 
OF  RETAINING- WALLS.  By  James  S.  Tatev 
C.  E. 

No.  8.— A  TREATISE  ON  THE  COMPOUND  EN- 
GINE. By  John  Turnbull,  Jun.  Second  edition, 
revised  by  Prof.  S.  W.  Robinson. 

No.  9-A  TREATISE  ON  FUEL.  By  Arthur  V.  Abbott,. 
C.  E.  Founded  on  the  original  treatise  of  C. 
William  Siemens,  D.  C.  L. 

No.  10.— COMPOUND  ENGINES.  Translated  from  the- 
French  of  A.  Mallet.  Second  edition,  revised  with  re- 
sults of  American  Practice,  by  Richard  H.  Buel,'.C.  E. 


2  THE   VAN   NOSTRAND    SCIENCE   SERIES. 

No.  11.— THEORY   OF    ARCHES.    By  Prof.  W.  Allan. 

No.  12.— THEORY  OF  VOUSSOIR  ARCHES.  By  Prof. 
W.  G.  Cain.  Second  edition,  revised  and  enlarged. 

No.  13.-GASES  MET  WITH  IN  COAX  MINES.  By 
J.  J.  Atkinson.  Third  edition,  revised  and  enlarged 
by  Edward  H.  Williams,  Juh. 

No.  14.— FRICTION  OF  AIR  IN  MINES.  By  J.  J. 
Atkinson.  Second  American  edition. 

No.  15.—  SKEW  ARCHES.  By  Prof.  E.  W.  Hyde,  C.  E. 
Illustrated.  Second  edition. 

No.  16.— A  GRAPHIC  METHOD  FOR  SOLVING 
CERTAIN  ALGEBRAIC  EQUATIONS.  By 
Prof.  G.  L.  Vose. 

No.  17.— WATER  AND  WATER-SUPPLY.  By  Prof. 
W.  H.  Corfield,  of  the  University  College,  London. 
Second  American  edition. 

No.  18.— SEWERAGE  AND  SEWAGE  PURIFICA- 
TION. By  M.  N.  Baker,  Associate  Editor  "En- 
gineering News." 

No.  19.— STRENGTH  OF  BEAMS  UNDER  TRANS- 
VERSE LOADS.  By  Prof.  W.  Allan,  author  of 
"  Theory  of  Arches.1'  Second  edition,  revised. 

No.  20.— BRIDGE  AND  TUNNEL  CENTRES.  By 
John  B.  McMaster,  C.  E.  Second  edition. 

No.  21.— SAFETY  VALVES.  Third  edition.  By  Richard 
H.  Buel,  C.  E. 

No.  22.— HIGH  MASONRY  DAMS.  By  E.  Sherman 
Gould,  M.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E. 

No.  28.— THE  FATIGUE  OF  METALS  UNDER  RE- 
PEATED STRAINS.  With  various  Tables  of 
Results  and  Experiments.  From  the  German  of 
Prof.  Ludwig  Spangenburgh,  with  a  Preface  by  S. 
H.  Shreve,  A.  M. 

No.  24.— A  PRACTICAL  TREATISE  ON  THE 
TEETH  OF  WHEELS.  By  Prof.  S.  W.  Robin- 
son. Second  edition,  revised. 

No.  25.— ON  THE  THEORY  AND  CALCULATION 
OF  CONTINUOUS  BRIDGES.  By  Mansfield 
Merriman,  Ph.  D. 

No.  26.— PRACTICAL  TREATISE  ON  THE  PROP- 
ERTIES OF  CONTINUOUS  BRIDGES.  By 
Charles  Bender,  C.  E. 


THE   VAN  NOSTRAND   SCIENCE   SERIES.  3. 

No.  27.— ON  BOILER  INCRUSTATION  AND  COR- 
ROSION. By  F.  J.  Rowan.  New  edition.  Revised 
by  F.  E.  Idell. 

No.  28.— TRANSMISSION  OF  POWER  BY  WIRE 
ROPES.  Second  edition.  By  Albert  W.  Stahl, 
U.  S.  N. 

No.  29.— STEAM  INJECTORS.  Translated  from  the 
French  of  M.  Leon  Pochet. 

No.  30.— TERRESTRIAL  MAGNETISM  AND  THE 
MAGNETISM  OF  IRON  VESSELS.  By  Prof, 
Fairman  Rogers. 

No.  31.— THE  SANITARY  CONDITION  OF  DWELL- 
ING-HOUSES IN  TOWN  AND  COUNTRY. 
Second  edition,  revised.  By  George  E.  Waring,  Jun. 

No.  32.— CABLE  -  MAKING  FOR  SUSPENSION 
BRIDGES.  By  W.  Hildebrand,  C.  E. 

No.  33.— MECHANICS  OF  VENTILATION.  By 
George  W.  Rafter,  C.  E.  New  and  Revised  Edition, 

No.  34.— FOUNDATIONS.  By  Prof.  Jules  Gaudard,  C.  E. 
Second  edition.  Translated  from  the  French. 

No.  35.— THE  ANEROID  BAROMETER  :  ITS  CON- 
STRUCTION AND  USE.  Compiled  by  George 
W.  Plympton.  Seventh  edition,  revised  and 
enlarged. 

No.  36.— MATTER  AND  MOTION.  By  J.  Clerk  Max- 
well, M.  A.  Second  American  edition. 

No.  37.— GEOGRAPHICAL  SURVEYING;  ITS  USES, 
METHODS  AND  RESULTS.  By  Frank  De 
Yeaux  Carpenter,  C.  E.  * 

No.  38.— MAXIMUM  STRESSES  IN  FRAMED 
BRIDGES  By  Prof.  William  Cain,  A.  M.,  C.  E. 

New  and  revised  edition. 

No.  39.— A  HAND-BOOK  OF  THE  ELECTRO- 
MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.  By  A.  E.  Loring. 

No.  40.— TRANSMISSION  OF  POWER  BY  COM- 
PRESSED AIR.  By  Robert  Zahner,  M.  E. 
Second  edition. 

No.  41.— STRENGTH  OF  MATERIALS.  By  William 
Kent,  C.  E.,  Assoc.  Editor,  "  Engineering  News.'* 
Second  edition. 


4  THE   VAN   NOSTRAND    SCIENCE   SERIES. 

No.  42.— VOUSSOIR  ARCHES  APPLIED   TO  STONE 
BRIDGES,     TUNNELS,     CULVERTS,     AND 

DOMES.    By  Prof.  William  Cain. 
No.  43  —  WAVE    AND    VORTEX    MOTION.      By    Dr. 

Thomas  Craig,  of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 
No.  44 -TURBINE    WHEELS.     By  Prof.   W.  P.  Trow- 

bridge,  Columbia  College.  Second  edition.  Revised. 
No.  45.— THERMO— DYNAMICS.      By  Prof.  H.  T.  Eddy, 

University  of  Cincinnati. 
No   46.— ICE-MAKING  MACHINES      From  the  French 

of  M.  Le  Doux.    Revised  by  Prof.  Denton.    Fourth 

edition. 
No.  47.— LINKAGES  :     THE      DIFFERENT    FORMS 

AND     USES     OF     ARTICULATED     LINKS. 

By  J.  D.  C.  de  Roos. 
No.  48.— THEORY       OF      SOLID      AND      BRACED 

ARCHES.    By  William  Cain,  C.  E. 
No.  49. —ON    THE    MOTION    OF    A    SOLID    IN    A 

FLUID.    By  Thomas  Craig,  Ph.  D. 
No.  50.— DWELLING-HOUSES  :    THEIR  SANITARY 

CONSTRUCTION  AND   ARRANGEMENTS. 

By  Prof.  W.  H.  Corfield. 
No.  51.— THE    TELESCOPE  :    ITS    CONSTRUCTION, 

Etc.    By  Thomas  Nolan. 
No.  52.— IMAGINARY  QUANTITIES.  Translated  from 

the  French  cf  M.  Argand.    By  Prof.  Hardy. 
No.  53.— INDUCTION     COILS  :    HOW    MADE    AND 

HOW  USED.    Ninth  Edition. 
No.  54.— KINEMATICS    OF   MACHINERY.    By  Prof. 

Kennedy.    With  an  introduction  by  Prof.  R.   H. 

Thurston. 
No.  55.-SEWER   GASES :     THEIR    NATURE    AND 

ORIGIN.     By  A.    de  Varona.     Second   edition, 

revised  and  enlarged. 
No.  56.— THE    ACTUAL    LATERAL    PRESSURE  OF 

EARTHWORK.     By  Benj.  Baker,  M.  Inst.,  C.  E. 
No.  57.— INCANDESCENT    ELECTRIC    LIGHTING. 

A  Practical  Description  of  the  Edison  System.    By 

L.  H.  Latimer,  to  which  is  added  the  design  and 

Operation  of  Incandescent  Station?.  By  C.  J.  Field, 

and   the   Maximum     Efficiency   of   Incandescent 

Lamps,  by  John  W.  Howell. 


THE   VAN   NOSTRAND    SCIENCE    SERIES.  5 

No.  58.— THE     VENTILATION    OF    COAL     MINES. 

By  W.  Fairley,  M.  E.,  F.  S.  S.,  and  Geo.  J.  Andre. 
No.  59.— RAILROAD      ECONOMICS  ;      OR,      NOTES 

WITH  COMMENTS.     By  S.W.  Robinson,  C.  E. 
No.  60.— STRENGTH  OF  WROUGHT-IBON  BRIDGE 

MEMBERS.    By  S.  W.  Robinson,  C.  E. 
No.  61.— POTABLE     WATER    AND     METHODS     OF 

DETECTING  IMPURITIES.  By  M.  N.  Baker. 
No.  62.— THE  THEORY  OF  THE  GAS-ENGINE.    By 

Dougald  Clerk.    Second  edition.    With  additional 

matter.    Edited  by  F.  E.  Idell,  M.  E. 
No.  63.— HOUSE      DRAINAGE      AND       SANITARY 

PLUMBING.    By  W.  P.  Gerhard.  Eighth  edition. 

Revised. 
No.  64.— ELECTRO-MAGNETS.       By    Th.   du    Moncel. 

Second  revised  edition. 
No.  65.— POCKET  LOGARITHMS  TO  FOUR  PLACES 

OF  DECIMALS. 
No.  66.— DYNAMO-ELECTRIC  MACHINERY.  ByS.P. 

Thompson.  With  notes  by  F.  L.  Pope.  Third  edition. 
No.  67.— HYDRAULIC  TABLES  BASED  ON   "  KUT- 

TER'S  FORMULA."    By  P.  J.  Flynn. 
No.  68.— STEAM-HEATING.    By  Robert  Briggs     Third 

edition,  revised,  with  additions  by  A.  R.  Wolff. 
No.  69.— CHEMICAL  PROBLEMS.  By  Prof.  J.  C.  Foye. 

Fourth  edition,  revised  and  enlarged. 

No.  70  —EXPLOSIVE  MATERIALS.    By  M.  Bertholet. 
No.  71.— DYNAMIC  ELECTRICITY.    By  John  Hopkin- 

son,  J.  A.  Schoolbred,  and  R.  E.  Day.  > 

1ST0.  72.— TOPOGRAPHICAL  SURVEYING.    By  George 

J.  Specht,  Prof.  A.  S.  Hardy,  John  B.  McMaster, 

and  H.  F.  Walling.    Second  edition,  revised. 
No.  73.— SYMBOLIC    ALGEBRA;  OR,    THE    ALGE- 
BRA OF  ALGEBRAIC  NUMBERS.    By  Prof. 
W.  Cain. 

No.  74.— TESTING  MACHINES:  THEIR  HISTORY, 
CONSTRUCTION,  AND  USE.  By  Arthur  V. 
Abbott. 

No.  75.— RECENT  PROGRESS  IN  DYNAMO-ELEC- 
TRIC MACHINES.  Being  a  Supplement  to  Dy- 
namo-Electric Machinery.  By.  Prof.  Sylvanus  P. 
Thompson. 


6  THE  VAN   NOSTRAND   SCIENCE   SERIES. 

No.  76.— MODERN  REPRODUCTIVE  GRAPHIC 
PROCESSES.  By  Lieut.  James  S.  Pettit,  U.S.A. 

No.  77.— STADIA  SURVEYING.  The  Theory  of  Stadia 
Measurements.  By  Arthur  Winslow. 

No.  78.— THE  STEAM-ENGINE  INDICATOR,  AND 
ITS  USE.  ByW.  B.LeVan. 

No.  79.— THE  FIGURE  OF  THE  EARTH.  By  Frank 
C.  Roberts,  C.  E. 

No.  80.— HEALTHY  FOUNDATIONS  FOR  HOUSES. 
By  Glenn  Brown. 

No.  81.— WATER  METERS  :  COMPARATIVE  TESTS 
OF  ACCURACY,  DELIVERY,  Etc.,  Distinc- 
tive features  of  the  Worthington,  Kennedy,  Sie- 
mens, and  Hesse  meters.  By  Ross  E.  Browne. 

No.  82.— THE  PRESERVATION  OF  TIMBER  BY 
THE  USE  OF  ANTISEPTICS.  By  Samuel 
Bagster  Boulton,  C.  E. 

No.  83.-MECHANICAL  INTEGRATORS.  By  Prof. 
Henry  S.  H.  Shaw,  C.  E. 

No.  84.— FLOW  OF  WATER  IN  OPEN  CHANNELS, 
PIPES,  CONDUITS,  SEWERS,  Etc.  With 
Tables.  By  P.  J.  Flynn,  C.  E. 

No.  85.— THE  LUMINIFEROUS  .ETHER.  By  Prof, 
de  Volson  Wood. 

No.  86.— HAND-BOOK  OF  MINERALOGY;  DETER- 
MINATION AND  DESCRIPTION  OF  MIN- 
ERALS FOUND  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
By  Prof.  J.  C.  Foye,  Sixth  edition,  revised. 

No.  87.— TREATISE  ON  THE  THEORY  OF  THE 
CONSTRUCTION  OF  HELICOIDAL  OB- 
LIQUE ARCHES.  By  John  L.  Culley,  C.  E. 

No.  88.— BEAMS  AND  GIRDERS.  Practical  Formulas 
for  their  Resistance.  By  P.  H.  Philbrick. 

No.  89.— MODERN  GUN  COTTON  :  ITS  MANUFAC- 
TURE, PROPERTIES,  AND  ANALYSIS.  By 
Lieut.  John  P.  Wisser,  U.S.A. 

No.  90.— ROTARY  MOTION  AS  APPLIED  TO  THE 
GYROSCOPE.  By  Gen.  J.  G.  Barnard. 

No.  91.— LEVELING:  BAROMETRIC  TRIGONO3IE- 
TRIC,  AND  SPIRIT.  By  Prof.  I.  O.  Baker. 

No.  92.— PETROLEUM :  ITS  PRODUCTION  AND> 
USE.  By  Boverton  Redwood,  F.  I.  C.,  F.  C.  S. 


THE  VAN   NOSTRAND   SCIENCE  SERIES.  7 

No.  93.— RECENT  PRACTICE  IN  THE  SANITARY 
DRAINAGE  OF  BUILDINGS.  With  Memor- 
anda on  the  Cost  of  Plumbing  Work.  Second  edi- 
tion, revised.  By  William  Paul  Gerhard,  C.  E. 

No.  94.— THE  TREATMENT  OF  SEWAGE.  By  Dr.  C. 
Meymott  Tidy. 

No.  95.— PLATE  GIRDER  CONSTRUCTION.  By  Is- 
ami  Hiroi,  C.  E.  3d  edition,  revised  and  enlarged. 

No.  96.— ALTERNATE  CURRENT  MACHINERY.  By 
Qisbert  Kapp,  Assoc.  M.  Inst.,  C.  E. 

No.  97.— THE  DISPOSAL  OF  HOUSEHOLD  WASTES. 
By  W.  Paul  Gerhard,  Sanitary  Engineer. 

No.  98.— PRACTICAL  DYNAMO  BUILDING  FOR 
AMATEURS.  HOW  TO  WIND  FOR  ANY 
OUTPUT.  By  Frederick  Walker.  Fully  illus- 
trated. 

No.  99.— TRIPLE-EXPANSION   ENGINES  AND  EN- 
GINE   TRIALS.    By   Prof.   Osborne  Reynolds. 
Edited  with  notes,  etc.,  by  F.  E.  Idell,  M.  E. 
No.  100.— HOW  TO  BECOME  AN  ENGINEER,  or  the 
Theoretical  and  Practical  Training  necessary  in 
fitting  for  the  duties  of  the  Civil  Engineer.    By 
Prof.  Geo.  W.  Plympton. 

No.  101.— THE  SEXTANT,  and  other  Reflecting  Mathe- 
matical Instruments.  With  Practical  Hints  for 
their  adjustment  and  use.  By  F.  R.  Brainard,  U. 
S.  Navy. 

No.  102.— THE  GALVANIC  CIRCUIT  INVESTI- 
GATED MATHEMATICALLY.  By  Dr.  G.  S. 
Ohm,  Berlin,  1827.  Translated  by  William 'Fran- 
cis. With  Preface  and  Notes  by  the  Editor, 
Thomas  D.  Lockwood,  M.  I.  E.  E. 

No.  103.— THE  MICROSCOPICAL  EXAMINATION 
OF  POTABLE  WATER.  With  Diagrams.  By 
Geo.  W.  Rafter. 

No.  104.— VAN  NOSTRAND'S  TABLE  BOOK  FOR 
CIVIL  AND  MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS. 

Compiled  by  Prof.  Geo.  W.  Plympton. 

No.  105.— DETERMINANTS.  An  Introduction  to  the 
Study  of,  with  Examples  and  Applications.  By 
Prof.  G.  A.  Miller. 


8  THE  VAN   NOSTRAND    SCIENCE   SERIES. 

No.  106.— COMPRESSED  AIR.  Experiments  upon  the/ 
Transmission  of  Power  by  Compressed  Air  in 
Paris.  (Popp's  System.)  By  Prof  A.  B.  W.  Ken 
nedy.  The  Transmission  and  Distribution  of 
Power  from  Central  Stations  by  Compressed  Air. 
By  Prof.  W.  C.  Unwin. 

No.  107.— A  GRAPHICAL  METHOD  FOR  SWING 
BRIDGES.  A  Rational  and  Easy  Graphical  An- 
alysis of  the  Stresses  in  Ordinary  Swing  Bridges. 
Witn  an  Introduction  on  the  General  Theory  of 
Graphical  Statics.  By  Benjamin  F.  La  Rue.  4 
Plates. 

No.  108.— SLIDE  VALVE  DIAGRAMS.  A  French  Method 
for  Constructing  Slide  Valve  Diagrams.  By  Lloyd 
Bankson,  B.  S.,  Assistant  Naval  Constructor,  U.  S. 
Navy.  8  Folding  Plates. 

No.  109.— THE  MEASUREMENT  OF  ELECTRIC 
CURRENTS.  Electrical  Measuring  Instruments. 
By  James  Swinburne.  Meters  for  Electrical  En- 
ergy. By  C.  H.  Wordingham.  Edited,  with  Pre- 
face, by  T.  Commerford  Martin.  Folding  Plate 
and  numerous  illustrations. 

No-  110.— TRANSITION  CURVES.  A  Field-Book  for 
Engineers,  containing  Rules  and  Tables  for  Laying 
out  Transition  Curves.  By  Walter  G.  Fox,  C.  E. 

No.  111.— GAS  -  LIGHTING  AND  GAS  -  FITTING. 
Specifications  and  Rules  for  Gas-Piping.  Notes  on 
the  advantages  of  Gas  for  Cooking  and  Heating* 
and  Useful  Hints  to  Gas  Consumers.  Second  edi- 
tion, rewritten  and  enlarged.  By  Wm.  Paul  Ger- 
hard, C.  E. 

No.  112.— A  PRIMER  ON  THE  CALCULUS.  By  E. 
Sherman  Gould,  M.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E.  Second  edi- 
tion, revised  and  enlarged. 

No.  113.— PHYSIC AL  PROBLEMS  and  their  Solution. 
By  A.  Bourgougnon,  Formerly  Assistant  at  Belle- 
vue  Hospital. 

No.  114.— MANUAL  OF  THE  SLIDE  RULE.  By  F.  A. 
Halsey,  of  the  American  Machinist. 

No.  115.— TRAVERSE  TABLE  showing  the  difference 
of  Latitude  and  Departure  for  distances  between 
1  and  100  and  for  Angles  to  Quarter  Degrees  be- 
tween 1  degree  and  90  degrees.  (Reprinted  from 
Scribner  s  Pocket  Table  Book  ) 


THE   VAN  NOSTRAND  SCIENCE  SERIES. 


No.  60.— STRENGTH  OF  WROUGHT-IRON  BRIDGE  MEM- 
BERS. By  S.  W.  Robinson,  C.E. 

No.  ei.— POTABLE  WATER  AND  METHODS  OF  DETECT- 
ING IMPURITIES.  By  M.  N.  Baker. 

N<X  63.— THE  THEORY  OF  THE  GAS-ENGINE.  By 
Dougald  Clerk.  Second  edition.  With  additional 
matter.  Edited  by  F.  E.  Idell,  M.E. 

No.  63.— HOUSE  DRAINAGE  AND  SANITARY  PLUMB- 
ING. By  W.  P.  Gerhard.  Sixth  edition.  Re- 
vised. 

No.  64.— ELECTRO-MAGNETO.  By  Th.  du  Moncel.  2d  re- 
vised  edition. 

No.  65.— POCKET  LOGARITHMS  TO  FOUR  PLACES  OP 
DECIMALS. 

No.  66.— DYNAMO-ELECTRIC   MACHINERY.     By    S.    P. 

Thompson.    With  notes  by  F.  L.   Pope.    Third 

edition. 
No.  6?.— HYDRAULIC  TABLES  BASED  ON    "  KUTTER'S 

FORMULA."    By  P.  J.  Flynn. 
No.  68.-STEAM-HEATING.      By  Robert    Briggs.       Third 

edition,  revised,  with  additions  by  A.  R.  Wolff. 
No.  69.— CHEMICAL   PROBLEMS.    By  Prof.  J.  C.  Foye. 

Third  edition,  reviser)  and  enlarged. 
\o    70.— EXPLOSIVE  MATERIALS.    By  M.  Berfcholefc. 

No.  71.— DYNAMIC  ELECTRICITY.  By  John  Hopkinson, 
J.  A.  Schoolbred,  and  R.  E.  Day. 

No.  72.— TOPOGRAPHICAL  SURVEYING.  By  George  J. 
Specht,  Prof.  A.  S.  Hardy,  John  B.  McMaster,  and 
H.  F.  Walling. 

No.  73.— SYMBOLIC  ALGEBRA;  OR,  THE  ALGEBRA  OF 
ALGEBRAIC  NUMBERS.  By  Prof.  W.  Cain. 

No.  74.-TESTING  MACHINES  :  THEIR  HISTORY,  CON- 
STRUCT1ON,  AND  USE.  By  Arthur  V.  Abbott. 

No.  75.— RECENT  PROGRESS  IN  DYNAMO-ELECTRIC 
MACHINES.  Beins-r  a  Supplement  to  Dynamo- 
Electric  Machinery.  By  Prof.  Sylvanus  P. 
Thompson. 

No.  76.— MODERN  REPRODUCTIVE  GRAPHIC  PRO- 
CESSES. By  Lieut.  James  So  Pettit,  U.S.A. 

No.  77.— STADIA  SURVEYING.  The  Theory  of  Stadia 
Measurements.  By  Arthur  Winslow. 

No.  78.— THE    STEAM-ENGINE    INDICATOR,    AND    ITS 

USE.    By  W.  B.  Le  Van. 
No.  79.-THR  FIGURE   OF   THE   EARTH.    By  Frank  a 

Roberts,  C.E. 
No.  80.-HEALTH^  FOUNDATIONS  FOR  HOUSES.     By 

Gl«nn  Brown. 


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THE  VAN  NOSTRAND  SCIENCE  SERIES. 

No.  100.— HOW  TO  BECOME  AN  ENGINEER,  or  the  Theo- 
retical and  Practical  Training  necessary  in  fitting 
for  the  duties  of  the  Civil  Engineer.  By  Prof. 
Geo.  W.  Plympton. 

No.  101.—THE  SEXTANT,  and  other  Reflecting  Mathemati- 
cal Instruments.  With  Practical  Hints  for  their 
adjustment  and  use.  By  F.  R.  Brainard,  U.  8. 
Navy. 

No.  102.— THE  GALVANIC  CIRCUIT  INVESTIGATED 
MATHEMATICALLY.  By  Dr.  G.  S.  Ohm,  Ber- 
lin, 1827.  Translated  by  William  Francis.  With 
Preface  and  Notes  by  the  Editor,  Thomas  D. 
Lock  wood,  M.I.E.E. 

No.  103.-THE  MICROSCOPICAL  EXAMINATION  OF 
POTABLE  WATER.  Witu  Diagrams,  By  Geo. 
W.  Rafter. 

No.  104.— VAN  NOSTRAND'S  TABLE  BOOK  FOR    CIVIL 

AND    MECHANICAL  ENGINEERS.      Compiled 

by  Prof.  Geo.  W.  Plympton, 
No.  105.— DETERMINANTS.    An  Introduction  to  the  Str 

of,  with  Examples  and  Applications.     By  " 

G.  A.  Miller. 

No.  106.— COMPRESSED      AIR.      Experiments 


Transmission    of   Power  by  Comprp 
Paris.    (Popp's    System.)      By  Pr 
Kennedy.    The  Transmission  an<' 


Power  from  Central  Stations 
By  Prof.  W.  C.  Unuin. 

No.  107. -A  GRAPHICAL  METHOD  FOR  S^ 
A  Rational  and  Easy   Graph) 
Stresses  in  Ordinary   Swinr 
Introduction  on  the  Gener' 
Statics.    By  Benjamin  F 

No.  108.— SLIDE  VALVE  DIAGR 


£ or  Constructing  Slid  ,f  .     \j 


,.£ 


Bankson,  B  S.. 
S.  Navy.    8  F 
No.  109.— THE     MEAP 
RENTS. 
James  r 

By  r  \   # 

by  \  and 

r  \ 

No.  110.— ~  s  Engin- 

jr  Laying 

v__ -r.  Fox.  C.E. 

No.  111.— GAS-LIGHTING  AND  GAS-FITTING.  Specifica- 
tions and  Rules  for  Gas-Piping.  Notes  on  the 
advantages  of  Gas  for  Cooking  and  Heating,  and 
Useful  Hints  to  Gas  Consumers.  Second  edition, 
rewritten  and  enlarged.  By  Wm.  Paul  Gerhard* 
C.E. 

No.  112.— A  PRIMER  ON  THE  CALCULUS.     By  E.  Sherman 
Gould,  M.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E. 


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EAR.  By  Prof.  O.  N.  ROOD,  Columbia  College,  x T.  .7 
York.  One  of  the  most  interesting  lectures  on  r  :ml 
ever  delivered.  Original  oiscoveries,  brilliant  e^  «r;  • 
men ts.  Beautifully  illus.  88  pp.  Taper  Covers  :*  c'«. 


